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Rebuilding our Food System, One Story at a Time
March 18, 2008
Joseph McIntyre, Ag Innovations Network

When was the last time you heard a story that changed the way you felt or thought? There are incredible stories all around us--including ones we tell ourselves and others about food, change, and the future. These stories have power- power to move us and power to freeze us in place.

In my work throughout California rebuilding the connections between food producers and the greater community with Ag Futures and Food System Alliances, I have the privilege of encouraging people to share their stories about food, community, and the future.


As a result, I have become a collector of stories that have changed me and changed the people who heard them. Stories that have helped me and others overcome our differences.  Meg Wheatley , the writer and management theorist, says in her book Turning to One Another ,
“We discover this shared human experience whenever we listen to someone’s unique story. The details and differences are important to hear...as we listen quietly to [the] story, as we allow another’s life to be different from ours, suddenly we find ourselves standing on common ground.”

Let me share one such story about the California food system. A young man told me once of his father who grew up in Mexico and came to the United States in the 1960’s as an undocumented farm worker. Motivated to make a better life for himself, he worked as a migrant picker, almost always choosing crops that paid piece rates because he could earn more by working harder. It was a tough life, but one that allowed his Dad to save and start a family. In 1986, when amnesty was offered to undocumented workers, his Dad became a US citizen. Since then he has built a thriving business that serves the agricultural industry and provides jobs for his son and many others.

Our food system is built on the backs of people like this, men and women who worked hard to bring in the fruits and vegetables we enjoy. But the irony is that we often treat these workers like ghosts. We collect payroll taxes from them, but expect them to sleep under bridges. We need them to drive to distant fields, but will not give them the legal means to get there. We build high walls to keep them out, but we desperately need them to keep our supply of inexpensive food flowing.
There are hundreds of strategies for creating a better food system. Each of them has their place. But my experience suggests that all successful strategies start in a simple place: when we begin to really listen to each other’s stories. Try it...you may find yourself opening up to a very new way to think and feel about food.

Read more about what’s happening with the Ag Futures and Food System Alliances – just click here .
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