A Call to Farms

An event, a book, an ongoing conversation.

There is healing to be done.

The question before us, then, is not only how we will mobilize to redress the immediate harm done by the current militarism and violence. The question is also how we will plant the seeds of a peaceable economy. There is no more fundamental place to start than with how we grow food, how we feed ourselves and one another, how we relate to and care for the land.

—Woody Tasch, A Call to Farms

On September 11, 2022, we came together—421 of us, from 16 nations.

The online event marked the official launch of Beetcoin and the print release of A Call To Farms: Some Thoughts on Food, Money and Nonviolence in Honor of Wendell Berry. Planning for a next Call to Farms event in late 2023 has begun. September’s event featured an esteemed group of colleagues—farmers, financiers and activists—in conversation about localism, nonviolence and the ins-and-outs of the world’s first
non-crypto, non-currency.

Leslie Christian

Leslie Christian

Former CEO, Portfolio 21

Leslie is a Seattle-based financial advisor who has been a leader in social and environmental investing for decades. She is a senior advisor at RSF Social Finance and NorthStar Asset Management and past treasurer the Business Alliance For Local Living Economies (BALLE). She was previously president and CEO of Portfolio 21 Investments.

Narendra Varma

Narendra Varma

Our Table Cooperative

Narendra is the co-founder and executive director of Our Table Cooperative, a multi-stakeholder cooperative 58-acre diversified organic farm, CSA and farm store near Portland, OR. He was an early employee at Microsoft.

Jack Algiere

Jack Algiere

Stone Barns Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Jack is Director of Agroecology at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture (Pocantico Hills, NY), where he was the first employee in 2003. Since then, he has built an integrated farming operation rooted in land stewardship, innovation and community. The farm serves as a training campus for young farmers, chefs, changemakers and the public.

Marco Vangelisti

Marco Vangelisti

Fulbright Scholar in Economics

Marco is a founding member of Slow Money Northern California. Prior to his shift in focus towards no-harm, impact and regenerative investing, he spent 20 years in the finance industry, where he managed investment equity portfolios on behalf of large foundations and endowments. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and was a Fulbright scholar in Mathematics and Economics at UC Berkeley.

Ben Burkett

Ben Burkett

4th generation farmer

Ben Burkett is a fourth-generation farmer in Petal, Mississippi. His was one of the first African American-owned farms in the state. In 2014, he won a James Beard Foundation award for his work supporting family farming. He is former director of the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives and a board member of Crescent City Farmer’s Market in New Orleans.

Roberto Meza

Roberto Meza

National Young Farmers Coalition

Roberto cofounded Emerald Gardens, in Bennett, Colorado, which grows microgreens using geothermal and passive-solar energy. He is also cofounder of the East Denver Food Hub, a board member of the National Young Farmers Coalition and High Plains Food Co-op, and chair of Membership and Outreach for Mile High Farmers. He is a graduate of the MIT program in Art, Culture, and Technology.

Cinzia Scaffidi

Cinzia Scaffidi

Formerly with Slow Food International

Cinzia Scaffidi is a journalist and a lecturer based in Bra, Italy. She deals with food-related global issues. Cinzia was a member of Slow Food International’s staff and leadership from 1992 to 2015. She has authored essays and books, including Slow Food Editore 2021, and teaches at several universities and schools, including the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo.

Winona LaDuke

Winona LaDuke

Honor the Earth

Winona LaDuke (White Earth reservation, Minnesota) is an American environmentalist, economist, writer and hemp grower, known for her work on tribal land preservation and sustainable development. In 1996 and 2000, she ran for Vice President as the nominee of the Green Party. She is executive director and co-founder of Honor the Earth, a Native environmental advocacy organization.

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