Five years ago, when we moved to Vermont, you couldn’t buy chicken raised and slaughtered on a local farm at the farmers’ market, and it certainly couldn’t be served in a restaurant. Finding farm-fresh raw milk was nearly impossible since the farms couldn’t advertise, and when you did find a farm that sold it chances were that you would have a hard time getting any of the measly 25 quarts a day that the farms were allowed to sell. Few people other than organic farmers knew about harmful effects of GMO crops in our state, and growing hemp – an eco-friendly food and fiber crop – was illegal.

But the tide is turning, and while many people and organizations have been a part of these regulatory changes, Rural Vermont, under the leadership of Amy Shollenberger, has been a consistent force in every one of these agricultural victories.

And, how can we begin thinking about ourselves as producers rather than consumers? I believe that this is the cultural shift that needs to happen. As long as we think about ourselves as consumers – people who use up resources – we will not succeed in achieving independence from the tyranny of the corporate-industrial food system. We must take responsibility at all levels and work to create a new system that adds health and value to our bodies, our soils, and our communities.