FFS 032 - The Last Acceptable Prejudice

The urban-rural divide is more pronounced than ever. The 'last acceptable prejudice' - that against rural people and places - is not only real, it is destructive.

As in our politics, the debates around food and sustainability are increasingly polarised. Conventional agriculture is pitted against organic agriculture, vegans face-off against carnivores, urban city-dwellers clash with countrymen and women. How do we bridge these divides?

In this episode, we talk to Ash Bruxvoort about their story growing up as the daughter of a conventional farmer and a sustainable agriculture advocate.

Ash Bruxvoort is a writer and program coordinator at Women, Food and Agriculture Network. They grew up on a family farm outside of Des Moines, Iowa, where their father produces corn and soybeans. Their writing and work focuses on empowering women and gender non-conforming people to tell their stories about the urban-rural divide. 

We discuss:

• How the urban-rural divide shapes how we see politics and debates around sustainable agriculture

• Ash’s take, as a daughter of a conventional farmer, on sustainable agriculture

• How we address ‘the last acceptable prejudice’ : the prejudice against rural places and people (Wendell Berry)

Links:

• Ash's Civil Eats article - 'I am the Daughter of a Conventional Farmer - and a Sustainable Ag advocate'

• Women, Food and Agriculture Network

• Wendell Berry: The Unsettling of America

• Letters to a Young Farmer – Stone Barns Cener for Food and Agriculture

You may also like:

• FFS 025 – Breaking bread with Paleo

• FFS 021 – My Beef with Veganism

• FFS 018 – Talking Sustainability with Rob Greenfield