Release Date: June 21st, 2023
How do we use our land – a question that invites and warns us to take a critical look at the decisions we are making about the land we steward. Join co-host Aliyah Fraser and guest Thorsten Arnold in conversation about land use change, an often underrepresented narrative at the intersection of both the farm and climate crisis. Farmers know all too well the impacts the loss of farmland to development have on their ability to feed their communities, and we hope this episode will stimulate listeners to look at the changes around them with fresh eyes, and perhaps some desire to join in to save our farmland.
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Cast
Madeline (Maddie) Marmor— Host/Producer
Maddie is a landless farmer born in downtown Toronto. She has been farming for the past 7 years on farms throughout Ontario and has grown food on the current and traditional lands of the Houdensaunee, Anishinabewaki, Attiwonderonk, Mississauga, Odawa, Wendake-Nionwentsïo, Petun, Saugeene - Ojibiway nations.Over the years she has come to recognize the privilege and political significance of farming on stolen land, knowledge which has informed her dedication to food sovereignty and agroecology. She is a member of the National Farmers Union and sits on the Climate Justice collective for the international social movement La Via Campesina.
Aliyah Fraser — Co-Host/Producer
Aliyah is a Kitchener-based farmer who owns and operates a quarter acre market garden called Lucky Bug Farm on rented land in Waterloo Region where she grows a variety of produce for a small CSA program. The farm operates within the Haldimand Tract in Kitchener, Ontario and is on the traditional territory of the Mississauga, Anishnabeg, Attiwonderonk (neutral) and Haudenoshaunee peoples. She imagines a food system where more people have access to ecologically grown food, where there is less waste and where there's a better understanding of the labour it takes to get food from the farm to the table. Aliyah also has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies in Urban planning from the University of Waterloo. She believes that food and housing are human rights. She lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her partner Thomas and cat Frankie.
luckybugfarm.com | @luckybugfarm
Thorsten Arnold — Guest
Thorsten Arnold is an environmental engineer and earth system scientist who co-owns Persephone Market Garden with his wife Kristine Hammel. His academic training has focused on topics ranging from watershed science and agricultural economics to greenhouse gas forcing and the role of regional land use and agriculture. Thorsten describes himself as an ecological food and farming systems advocate and has worked on a variety of projects, including starting Eat Local Grey Bruce, a farmer-driven food co-op located in Meaford, Ontario.