schenker is an avid traditional grower with wild roots, but along with the other organization members, she will be pivoting toward an innovative form of gardening called hydroponics that wild roots is incorporating.

hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, according to the usda national agricultural library.

“it’s kind of like a constant flowing water system, and there’s no soil needed,” schenker said. “the plants are just growing out of the water.”

rachel silverman, a mccormick school of engineering second-year industrial engineering major, is the co-vice president of engineers without borders, a student organization using engineering to promote sustainability. their newest project is partnering with wild roots to build the hydroponic system.

silverman said hydroponic systems pump water directly to the roots of the plants, which is beneficial for the environment.

“due to soil degradation, we lose soil faster than we can make it, so having an alternative available when we can grow produce without soil is really essential,” silverman said. “second of all, it uses a lot less water than how you would normally grow plants because it doesn’t have to be saturated in the soil and water can be recycled through the system.”

hydroponic systems work circularly, with water pumping from the nutrient-filled water into the grow tray, and then cycling back to the solution tank where more nutrients are added. the nutrient-water solution is typically replaced every two to three weeks for an average-sized hydroponic structure, according to floraflex. an energy source is needed to provide light for the plants when grown indoors and to pump the water.

engineers without borders and wild roots are working out these technical details in an effort led by silverman and juliana gonzalez, a mccormick second-year majoring in manufacturing and design engineering. silverman said she and gonzalez weren’t familiar with gardening alternatives like hydroponics before wild roots reached out, but when the organizations connected, engineers without borders researched the system and decided to take on the project.

“i think you learn a lot more through doing. joining this club has taught me a lot more about the different solutions that exist,” silverman said. “[i am] just getting a better grasp of the situation with the environment and the ways we can help.”

once engineers without borders agreed to collaborate with wild roots, they put together a rough design and worked through logistics with wild roots advisor corbin smyth. their final sketch is a 6-feet long and 4-feet wide structure with plants growing in horizontal rows above a water basin. while many hydroponic structures feature lights above the plants for controlled growth, this system will not need them because it will receive natural light outdoors. 

gonzalez said the biggest barrier they faced was getting their materials approved. engineers without borders sent their material proposal to the northwestern student organization finance office (sofo) to order before spring break, she said. sofo officials asked the students to restructure their plans solely with materials from vendors approved on ibuynu, a web-based ordering platform providing organizations with streamlined purchasing options.

“they ended up sending us the materials [list] back, and then we redid the materials and sent it back to our advisor, who sent it to sofo,” gonzalez said. “the whole process took a really long time. it was very frustrating, honestly.” but the process and patience paid off.

gonzalez said the students decided to exclusively choose items from home depot when rebuilding their materials list because the store is approved on the sofo platform. while engineers without borders initially planned to unveil the structure in late may of 2024, gonzalez said they are postponing the project launch until the coming academic year due to the delays. she said that even with delays, she thinks a hydroponic system will be meaningful enough for the university that the students are sticking with the plan.

the hydroponic system will bring awareness about water consumption and waste on campus, gonzalez said. she added that sustainability is a large part of the world now, and integrating it into engineering projects is very interesting to her.

eric weber, director of operations at plant chicago, embraces and builds upon the sustainable aspects of hydroponics, they said. plant chicago, on chicago’s south side, adopted hydroponic and aquaponic urban gardens in 2011 when the organization launched. their first systems were located at the plant, a former meat processing warehouse welcoming a collaborative community of small food businesses, according to the plant website. plant chicago relocated their hydroponic and aquaponic structures to their current space a few blocks away in 2020, said weber.

hydroponics is one component of an aquaponics system, which pumps naturally fertilized water from fish tanks to plants growing in water, then redirects the plant-purified water back to the fish tanks, according to nelson + pade. fish waste fertilizes the water and special bacteria in the water breaks down the ammonia in the waste that would be harmful to plants.

weber walked us through plant chicago’s indoor space, which boasts several hydroponic and aquaponic towers of various sizes. in the aquaponic structure, fish swim lazily on the lowest level and a series of pipes lead up to neat rows of plants growing in the water. weber said the main benefit of aquaponics over hydroponics is that it grows fish in addition to plants.

“you get the ability to have a potential protein source that you can harvest and eat in addition to your veggies,” weber said. “you treat the system as its own living organism; you’ve got fish, you’ve got plants, you’re trying to keep them living in harmony with each other.”

the nutrient source in a hydroponic system differs significantly from that of an aquaponic system, weber said. in a solely hydroponic structure, the plants rely on a synthetic fertilizer rather than organically processed fish waste. according to weber, this ties into one of the main criticisms of hydroponic growth.

critics of hydroponic growth don’t see hydroponics as organic and instead prefer more natural methods, said weber. while the u.s. department of agriculture (usda) makes no mention of soil growth in their definition of organic, the usda does specify that “the basic rule for organic agriculture is to allow natural substances and prohibit synthetic,” according to the website’s organic 101 subsection. if hydroponic and aquaponic systems do not use synthetic fertilizers, the usda recognizes them as eligible for organic certification.

but, according to the real organic project, a defining characteristic of organic produce is growth in soil. weber acknowledged that for both hydroponic and aquaponic growth, the plants grow in a controlled environment rather than letting nature take its course.

“you’re trying to control as many parameters of the environment as possible, so the amount of light, temperature, humidity, airflow, oxygen, co2…” weber said. “all that requires technology in some form, which tends to be fairly expensive, and electricity. depending on your electricity source or part of the world, it can vary in its environmental impact and cost.”

weber said the “gut check” for these technology-based growth methods is properly weighing cost and energy use against the systems’ benefits. they said some gardeners can build a small in-home hydroponic system for a couple hundred dollars, but the systems can cost upwards of $10,000 depending on size customizations and energy needs. some structures rely primarily on renewable energy sources, such as the systems at plant chicago, which operate from a 16-kilowatt solar array on the roof installed over a year ago, according to weber. however, others can rack up energy from non-renewable sources such as coal or natural gas, they said.

opposing organizations such as the real organic project look at the potential cost- and energy-related negatives of hydroponic growth and rule it out as a sustainable option. weber takes a more holistic approach. they said multiple factors should be considered when implementing hydroponics, such as which crops thrive naturally in that geographical area, which financial resources are available, and whether renewable energy is easily accessible. hydroponics also recycles water in a world where drought is spreading due to climate change.

“just as easy as it is to say, ‘oh, hydroponics is going to save us from world hunger,’ those broad strokes could be used to say, ‘oh no, this is terrible, it’s a huge waste of space and time and money and electricity,’” weber said. “i don’t think either of those are right.”

to exemplify their point, weber said they would never set up huge greenhouses in florida to grow trees inside because the climate is ideal for growing them naturally outdoors. however, they may consider growing leaf lettuce in nevada using indoor hydroponics. the state’s desert climate means far more water would be required to irrigate fields than it would be to grow plants in a nutrient-based water solution. they said in that case, the overall water loss is significantly less, which is a clear benefit to growing crops in a desert environment.

kellye fleming, branch assistant at the evanston public library’s robert crown branch, said hydroponics may not always be sustainable, but offers a great resource nonetheless. she implemented a rental program for hydroponics systems at her branch two years ago, where patrons can rent out small structures for 11 weeks at a time for free.

hydroponic growing is great for people such as fleming who live in apartments and don’t have much access to greenspace, she said. she added that soil can contain lead or other heavy metals in urban areas, making it impossible to grow healthy crops. indoor hydroponic growth makes fresh produce more accessible in that circumstance and for growing greens and herbs off-season. flemings said she doesn’t rule out the benefits of hydroponics simply because it’s not considered organic.

“if you are sustainability growing items, does it matter if it’s organic?” fleming said. “as long as people are growing, it’s great.”

schenker also frowns upon black-and-white criticism of hydroponic systems. to her, everything has a positive and negative, she said, and giving people more options for plant growth in different situations is a move in the right direction.

“i’m not saying that we should completely move toward hydroponics — i think that would be unsustainable,” schenker said. “but when it comes to how little access to good, clean food people have nowadays, a diverse amount of solutions to implement is great.”

the hydroponic system created by engineers without borders and wild roots will tentatively be placed outside norris university center in 2025.

silverman said the system will feature a qr code with information about hydroponics so students can learn more about why this structure was built. she thinks the project will spark interest in the environment on campus, she said.

“i hope it draws curiosity toward sustainability-focused tools,” silverman said. “i want it to open the conversation about other ways we can be more environmentally conscious.”

this article was originally published in north by northwestern.

what if crops grew back every year like your lawn does each spring?

if you’re a farmer, a gardener or a scientist, i know your ears just perked up — but this story isn’t just for you. such an innovation would have an impact on the entire food system, and anyone who eats.

in this episode of the food fix, i will walk listeners through the past, present and future of agriculture all in 14 minutes. i start off explaining the birth of agriculture in the fertile crescent, where humans first began domesticating crops. then i fast forward to the present and explain how our current agricultural way of life is thanks to 10,000 years of breeding. once everyone is caught up, i present the idea of perennial grains.

grains like corn, soy and wheat make up about 50% of every human’s diet. we grow 2.2 billion tons of grains each year to meet that need. and at the end of every season, we rip up those “amber rays of grain” and release all the precious carbon that was being stored in the roots back into the atmosphere. not to mention, the cycle is hard on farmers and the soil.

but what if we could leave grain crops in the ground for a few years? their roots would grow long and deep and the soil microbiome would flourish.

to create such a crop naturally would take thousands of years, but scientists at the land institute have discovered a way to engineer it in just 50.

on oct. 11, the pork industry trade group argued that california’s incoming regulations would unfairly burden pork producers across the country by requiring them to meet california’s animal welfare standards, which would impose an undue limitation on interstate commerce. california, on the other hand, defended its regulation as a legitimate, in-state issue. because farm animals in the u.s. do not have a universal right to welfare, these arguments turn on whether a state’s individual morals can justify a restriction on interstate commerce, rather than the wellbeing of the pigs. 

proposition 12 was enacted in 2018 after 62% of californians voted in favor of banning the sale of pork from breeding pigs, or a breeding pig’s offspring, where the sow is confined to less than 24 square feet of usable floor space.

“california voters chose to pay higher prices to serve their local interest in refusing to provide a market to products they viewed as morally objectionable and potentially unsafe,” said michael mongan, california’s solicitor-general.

according to the trade group, this regulation constitutes a breach of the dormant commerce clause – a legal doctrine inferred from article i of the constitution. under the doctrine, states may only enact restrictions that discriminate against, or unduly burden, interstate commerce if that effect is incidental and proportional to a legitimate local interest. 

in other words, the purported benefit of the law must outweigh the burden placed on interstate commerce. as consumers of 13% of the nation’s pork market, california’s regulation will significantly impact pork producers across the country. according to the pork industry trade group, animal welfare concerns do not constitute a legitimate local interest to outweigh this.

“proposition 12 violates the commerce clause almost per se because it’s an extraterritorial regulation that conditions pork sales on out-of-state farmers adopting california’s preferred farming methods, for no valid safety reason,” argued timothy bishop, counsel for the trade group. “it burdens interstate commerce for no local benefit.”

his argument that the pigs’ welfare is not a legitimate public interest reflects the fact that animal welfare is not widely protected in the u.s. this sets the u.s. apart from a number of countries – the united kingdom and new zealand are just two examples of countries with national legislation that requires any person responsible for animals to ensure their protection.  

animal sentience is also becoming increasingly accepted around the world. at least 39 countries expressly recognize it in legislation. although often ill-defined, the sentience institute describes it as “the capacity to have positive and negative experiences, usually thought of as happiness and suffering.” france, which recognized animal sentience as early as 1975, paired this with a requirement that animals be kept in conditions that are appropriate to the “biological … requirements of their species.”

in accordance with increasing awareness, numerous countries are moving toward the prohibition of restrictive gestation crates for sows. new zealand, which expressly recognized animal sentience in 2015, is working to phase them out following a 2020 high court decision, which found that they are unlawful under the country’s animal welfare act. 

in the u.s., animal welfare laws are sparse and often state dependent. justice ketanji brown jackson pointed out that the distinction between humanely-raised and inhumanely raised pork is not universally held. “if it were, i would think the market would have already accounted for it everywhere,” she said.

oregon, maine, and illinois are among a number of states that have recognized animals as sentient beings – either explicitly or implicitly. but protections at a federal level are limited. the animal welfare act of 1966, a primary piece of animal protection legislation governing the treatment of animals in research, exhibition, and transport, expressly excludes farm animals from its definition of “animals.” 

nine states have banned the use of gestation crates for breeding pigs, but massachusetts is the only other state to ban the sale of pork raised using them. this law, which was set to take effect in august, has been temporarily blocked by the state’s district court pending the supreme court’s decision.

this lack of animal welfare protection was apparent last month. because there is no clear basis to assume that animal welfare is a legitimate interest across the nation, california’s disagreement with the treatment of pigs in other states is not sufficient to support proposition 12, argued edwin kneedler, counsel for the department of justice.

instead, the arguments focused on whether a state’s values may constitute a “legitimate local interest.” a number of justices seemed concerned about the consequences of finding that they could. they questioned the possibility of a floodgates effect, offering analogies where a state may prohibit the sale of goods produced in other states by workers who do not earn a fair minimum wage, or have access to union membership.

“a lot of policy disputes can be incorporated into laws like yours,” said justice elena kagan. “you could have states doing a wide variety of things through the mechanism of saying ‘unless you comply, you can’t sell goods in our market.’”

these concerns leave substantial uncertainty in this case. unusually, its appearance in the supreme court comes at a preliminary stage. the court must decide whether the pork industry has an arguable case under the dormant commerce clause. if so, they will send it back to lower courts for a fuller exploration, an outcome which seems likely, based on the number of questions from the bench.

this article was originally published on medill news service, a project of northwestern university.

edible insects 

rick weiss, the director of sciline – an editorially independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit publication service for journalists and scientists – moderated a panel diving into the “future of food.” three experts on the subject spoke about the possibilities that roam beyond typical farming strategies that are more sustainable for the environment and potentially healthier for humans as well. 

dr. julie lesnik, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at wayne state university, discussed the potential for mass-produced “edible insects” like crickets. crickets produce high levels of protein and even greater levels of calcium and iron compared to pigs and cows. these figures could vary depending on what a farmer feeds their livestock, lesnik said. but overall, insects pack high amounts of nutrients. 

large-scale farms producing a single crop depend on high amounts of fossil fuels, pesticides, and antibiotics, according to healthcare without harm. cows are placed in tight, cramped spaces on farms in order to produce as much meat as possible. this method, in which cows are raised for human consumption, raises concerns about the ethics of mass-producing meat, lesnik said. but crickets like close-knit spaces. 

“crickets already like dark, cramped spaces, and so they produce well. they’re happy in those spaces,” lesnik said. 

many countries already eat crickets and other insects but the u.s. has built up a stigma against them. lesnik said this stigma stems from colonial america when spanish sailors, like christopher columbus’ crew members, saw indigenous tribes eating bugs and viewed the behavior as “beastly.”

“if we’re going to change this attitude, we’ve got to change this idea of it as primitive and savage and allow younger generations to view insects differently and make this food source available to them,” lesnik said. 

cellular agriculture  

dr. kate krueger is a cell biologist and research director at new harvest – a nonprofit research institute that supports innovations in cultured meat and cellular agriculture. during krueger’s introduction to the panel, sciline’s weiss shared “how impossible burgers are, in fact, possible,” given the research krueger has conducted. 

she discussed the potential for cellular agriculture to substitute meat farming. cellular agriculture requires cells to be taken out of an organism, like a cow, and then grown onto a material called a scaffold. a scaffold allows the cells to grow up and be fed with nutrients and minerals in a bioreactor to make a steak-like product. technology for a steak-like product is at least 10 years away from coming to fruition, but products like meatballs, chicken nuggets, and burgers are closer to 5 years from creation, krueger said. 

however, the evolution of cellular technology is raising concerns for meat and poultry farmers. 

“there’s often kind of a push-pull in the field between a lot of enthusiasm about these new products and a lot of potential pushback from different people who grow these animals,” krueger said. 

the veganism movement, fueled by younger generations, has shown the benefits of meat alternatives. but if the world stopped eating meat altogether, serious economic and health repercussions would arise for millions of people, specifically in rural populations. many people rely on a meat-based diet to consume enough protein at cheaper prices. sources like beans and rice would not cut it, experts shared at the world economic forum. 

seaweed production 

dr. denise skonberg, associate professor of food science in the food and agriculture school at the university of maine, studies the benefits seaweed and algae can have on a human diet and the environment. her research focuses on the health benefits of seafood products like marine organisms. 

“there are thousands of species of seaweeds,” skonberg said, “and they vary a lot in terms of their appearance, their color, their nutritional value, their texture, and their flavor.”

she said the growing “foodie” movement in the united states – a movement that has sparked new types of cuisine – leads her to believe large-scale seaweed production would benefit the economy. the global seaweed economy amounted to $6 billion in 2018, mostly produced in china. skonberg said the warm waters on the east and west coasts could make ideal places for larger seaweed farms. 

however, the warming ocean temperatures raise a concern for the sustainability of these potential farms. skonberg said scientists are currently studying the genetic diversity of various kinds of seaweed and testing where various types of seaweed thrive in various climates. 

what’s next

the bottom line for all three experts? more research is needed. sustainable farming for crickets, cultured meats, and seaweed needs more engineering investment to understand if these options can help sustain humans and better the environment. however, all three experts stressed that the possibilities are out there for sustainable food, like increased health benefits for humans. 

now the funding and technology efforts must come together to make it happen. 

clemmons isn’t in the pantry, either. she isn’t among the shelves of donated food items, diapers, feminine hygiene products, paper products, and dog food, nor between the racks of clothing. other volunteers hurry through the donation area, picking out the items requested. next month, they are hopeful they can return to their pre-covid model: allowing the people to come into the building themselves and pick out what they want. 

through the backdoor, past the parking lot, clemmons is shoveling compost with one of her thursday volunteers. it’s an essential part of their closed loop, regenerative farming practice. the approximately 1,000 square feet of soil in daystar’s edible garden is made entirely of the compost. the city donates seagrass scraped off of boat ramps, and coffee grounds and shrimp shells are donated from local companies, all for the compost. 

down the line of crops, you can find papayas, okra, mustard greens, basil, and more. at the end of the line are juvenile avocado trees and a jamaican cherry tree. clemmons searches the whole tree for one cherry, which tastes exactly like cotton candy. once the avocado trees are fully-grown, clemmons hopes they can provide adequate shade for the bus stop that a majority of their visitors take to travel to daystar. for some, it’s an all-day affair just to get here, since the bus comes by so infrequently, according to clemmons. 

the edge of the farm, marked by the avocado trees, sits directly next to a major road, across from an on-ramp of interstate 275, one of the largest in florida. daystar sits in the heart of south st. petersburg – a food desert or, as clemmons describes it, “a services and food desert.” 

scarcity and supply

“food desert” is a complicated term, but the fao defines food deserts as “geographic areas where residents’ access to food is restricted or non-existent due to the absence or low density of ‘food-entry points’ within a practical traveling distance.” 

this plays a significant role in the ongoing issue of food insecurity, a complicated and multi-faceted problem. according to feeding tampa bay, approximately 194,514 people in pinellas county, fla., are unable to reliably purchase nutritious food. given that nearly 1 million people live in pinellas county, this means close to 20% of people within the county are food insecure. 

on a national scale, about 10.2% of people in the united states were food insecure in 2021, according to the u.s. department of agriculture. 

studying these issues are people like david himmelfarb, instructor and internship coordinator at eckerd college. he teaches classes such as food movements and food & sustainability and holds a position on the farm advisory committee for the college’s community farm. 

himmelfarb said he became interested in food at a young age, noting that it always seemed to be the central bond among his family. 

“food brings people together,” himmelfarb said. 

this interest developed in a greater appreciation for cultural and biological diversity, leading to a career in anthropology. research in places such as papua new guinea has led himmelfarb to even more insights about food movements. 

“i started really thinking about the ways that people establish communities and strengthen their communities through the exchange of food,” himmelfarb said. 

but food security is a complex issue, and this is something on which himmelfarb and clemmons both agree. according to himmelfarb, you can’t just put grocery stores into food deserts. 

“that perspective is leaving a lot of things out,” he said. “that doesn’t address the fundamental issues of wage stagnation and lack of economic opportunities that make it such that even if the food is around the street from you, you can’t access it because you can’t afford it.”

the cultural, social, and economic aspects of the issue of food security are all intertwined – leaving out or focusing on only one will inevitably have consequences. you can’t address one without the other, according to himmelfarb. 

but, he said, a more conscious effort in making food a focus in our daily lives can help raise awareness. 

“i think it’s important for people to understand and get more involved in the production side of things,” he said. “you don’t need to go out and be a farmer, but if you come out to the farm and help out and see how things grow, you start to understand the choices that farmers are making.”

providing “the good stuff”

large organizations and long-term food social movements are key in creating a more just and adequate food system. but, small-scale, community-based farms like the eckerd college community farm or the edible garden at daystar life center can help support institutional sustainability over the long term. these small steps help drive the social movements or larger organizations necessary in enacting change. 

“food justice is a whole big wheel and i’m just on one spoke of it,” clemmons said. 

clemmons and the volunteers at daystar life center make these strides towards educating people about the importance of food. 

“what you eat is everything,” clemmons said. 

during peak growing seasons, the center hosts practical cooking classes to show people who are receiving goods what they can do with the produce. they explain the health benefits of crops such as collard greens, mustard greens and swiss chard, and then demonstrate easy-to-make meals, some that can be made with just a hot plate. 

they hand out infographics about spices and herbs, and label the crops. as people in need line up to receive donations, they can see the crops growing in the raised beds along the sidewalk and, with these recipes and classes, can get an idea of what to actually use them for.

janine duffy, who has been a regular volunteer with clemmons for just over a year and a half, emphasized the practical cooking classes as something that sets daystar apart from other organizations. 

duffy also described how the garden at daystar provides fresh produce that can be essential to people’s lives. she recalled how impactful these fresh greens can be to people’s lives, especially people with chronic illnesses. according to her, people have come in to receive okra as a staple in their diet for diabetes and have used greens for juices during cancer treatment. 

“people line up when it’s harvest season,” duffy said. “we will bag pounds and pounds of greens that people can utilize instead of eating processed foods.” 

the edible garden at daystar has only been in production for three years. the first year produced 600 pounds of vegetables, the second year 1,400 pounds. as of october 2022, the garden has produced around 1,700 pounds. clemmons said she hoped to hit the milestone of producing an actual ton of vegetables, or 2,000 pounds. 

for clemmons, it’s more than just the numbers, though. 

“i wanted to focus on getting the best food to food pantries, because they always get second-best,” clemmons said. “i want to grow the good stuff for the people who may not have access.”

the farm itself, just off of storefront-lined lawrence avenue, interrupts the cityscape, appearing like a lush jungle apparition. 

although the farm has “training” in its official name, linda seyler, the director of the farm, says that there’s not much that she or farm manager haley lerand have to teach them. 

“they were farmers in their home country. they’re the best farmers i’ve ever met,” seyler says. 

their training does, however, focus on preparing farmers for chicago’s climate, as well as introducing new crops that the farmers might not be familiar with, such as swiss chard. 

than naing oo, one of global garden’s market farmers, says “kale, chard, spring onion, they love the cold.”

lerand says that farmers might not be immediately excited about growing more typical american produce, but that it eventually grows on them. in fact, she says some market farmers might not have even tried eating some of the american vegetables that they grow. 

naing oo, on the other hand, is curious, and although he didn’t initially like arugula, he’ll eat it after pickling it in a brine of water, dried rice, and salt. 

naing oo has been selling his yields as a market farmer for two years now, but has been farming with global garden since its inception in 2012. 

farm essentials for a global community

before coming to the u.s., naing oo spent 20 years in a refugee camp in thailand. he is karen (pronounced kah-ren), an ethnic identity that is a point of contention in myanmar due to karen people’s ongoing persecution in the country. most farmers at global garden – about 75% in fact – are refugees from myanmar (previously burma). many of them dislike being referred to as burmese, a term that challenges their people’s sovereignty.

farmers like naing oo have brought traditional fruits and vegetables to chicago to grow in their garden, while also integrating local cultivars. known as his “signature” are chinese long beans, which he likes to prepare in a salad with fish sauce, lime, and other veggies.

in late september, he had picked his plants bare, taking what he could before the end of market season.

amaranth is another popular crop with the farmers, including naing oo. it is indigenous to the americas, but is mostly seen as a weed.

“if you had a corn or soybean farmer come and visit they would look at us like we’re crazy for cultivating it,” lerand says. but she explains that amaranth is more nutritious than spinach, and farmers often use it for stir frying.

another common fruit on the farm is bitter melon, which lerand says is most commonly used for medicinal purposes. farmers might eat it with eggs, or if they’re really brave, on its own, because, as seyler says, “it is really bitter.”

naing oo makes a soup with water, garlic, bitter melon leaf, and squash flowers steeped in hot water, which he says is good for digestion. he says he isn’t much of a cook though, and likes to bring the ingredients home for his wife to make.

also on the farm, naing oo likes to grow thai chilis, a popular farm snack that farmers tend to eat on its own raw or wrapped in bitter melon leaf to eat with their stir-fried vegetables and rice – common in lunch boxes. 

lerand says that there’s lots of sharing of cuttings and seeds on the farm, creating a sense of community. naing oo was able to get hingala seeds, a plant that’s native to myanmar, from another farmer at global garden. 

“and pretty soon, you have people from all different cultures growing a particular plant, which is really cool to see,” lerand says.

sustaining in spite of it all

but things don’t always work smoothly on the farm. seyler says that they expect a lot of turnover at the garden, as she says there’s “a natural loss of participants.”

“they end up moving out of chicago, because it’s expensive to be here and hard to figure out how to buy a house here, and they don’t need our little garden plot anymore,” seyler says.

she also cited the previous presidential administration for the reduced participation after former president trump put caps on the amount of refugees who could enter the united states. even this year, the biden administration has missed the mark on refugee admissions, with only 20% of the allocated spots being filled.

while the farm wants to prioritize newly arrived refugees, most farmers have been with them for years, with the newest family joining three years earlier. seyler and lerand are happy with the community space the farm has also been able to provide.

lerand says that she and seyler have hopes of finding another plot of land in chicago to expand farming opportunities. global garden refugee training farm is not the first refugee agricultural project in the u.s., but it is important that spaces like this one continue to be created for farmers like naing oo so they can stay connected to their traditions.

today, we talk about a fun and tasty way to combat invasive species by putting them on the menu. invasive species are organisms introduced into an environment outside their native range that cause catastrophic economic and environmental damage. controlling invasive species can be costly and time-consuming but including them on your plate could be a viable way to manage and even reduce populations. we share a fun and simple crockpot feral pig pulled pork recipe. 

feral pig pulled pork sliders – recipe courtesy of invasivore.org

ingredients

4lb feral pig shoulder roast

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

½ tablespoon garlic powder

½  cup yellow mustard

brioche slider buns

water as needed

directions

1. coat pork roast in mustard to act as a binder for the dry rub.
2. combine seasonings and spoon over the pork roast, ensuring the rub adheres to the pork.
3. coat the bottom of the slow cooker with vegetable oil.
4. add pork roast to the center of the slow cooker.
5. cook low for 6-7 hours or high for 4-5 hours until meat easily falls off the bone or shreds easily if using boneless. once the internal temperature reaches 195°f-205°f it will be ready to shred and safe to eat. 
6. while still in the slow cooker, use a pair of forks to shred pork meat, removing fat as desired.
7. enjoy on a toasted bun.  optional: top with coleslaw to enjoy your sandwich “southern style!”

**note: if you notice your pork roast getting dry during the cooking process, add water until the roast is halfway submerged and maintain the water level for the rest of the cooking.**

the only water roy pfaltzgraff has for his crops in haxtun, colorado, is what comes out of the sky, and that is not much during this mega-drought that has been devastating the west. despite extremely difficult growing conditions, pfaltzgraff still produces crops at a decent yield, in large part due to his soil health practices.

pfaltzgraff is part of colorado’s saving tomorrow’s agricultural resources (star) soil health program and is the only farmer in colorado, as of october 2022, to receive a maximum of five stars for the soil health of his fields. the outstanding soil health in his fields also impacts food quality, and pfaltzgraff is passionate about producing a quality product compared to the conventional farming focus on yield. with an associate’s degree in culinary arts, he has crafted several delicious gluten-free mixes using millet flour, corn, and other crops on his farm.

pfaltzgraff believes that it is important for people to get to know farmers and understand how food is produced. farmers and producers like pfaltzgraff will be profiled for their soil health practices in an upcoming three-part documentary series called “hold our ground,” which i am helping produce with the colorado state university center for science communication.

in september 2022, i had the privilege of visiting mcginley ranch of the turner institute of ecoagriculture near gordon, nebraska, to learn about regenerative ranching and ecological economics for conservation and commerce. 

on nearly 80,000 acres of pasture, a herd of about 4,000 bison is supporting a community of more than 8,000 organisms. these bison are carefully managed and grazed on parcels of land to create subtle disturbances in the vegetation and soil below. grazing disturbances create habitat diversity which sustains life on the prairie and improves its watershed. 

in this short film, dr. carter kruse and ranch manager tyrell mcclain explain the importance of regenerative bison ranching and its lucrative opportunities.