Background FYI for everyone: The image that I’ve used here from World War I and originally said, “Join the United-States School Garden Army. Enlist Now!” Today’s local sustainable agriculture movement & school gardening revival must instead embrace the values of peace. And yet, we must also acknowledge and learn from history. Governments all over the world have a (very) long history of exploiting agriculture for war and military conquest — and it’s still happening today. In fact, the US Department of Agriculture is now heavily involved with the U.S. occupation and war in Afghanistan. I think it would be wonderful if more people from the U.S. sustainable agriculture started standing up to say that this is wrong! As it is, I applaud the amazing work being done by Iraq & Afghanistan war veterans with the group Farms Not Arms — http://farmsnotarms.org

However, it’s worth noting that industrial agriculture for the most most part was not invented until after WWI. The woman in this image is not driving a tractor; she’s carving a path for her seeds with a handheld contraption. This is one of the reasons why I like this image. It’s true that a lot of the approaches that folks today have toward sustainably producing food contain a lot of great new ideas and techniques; but there is also A LOT that we can still learn from the pre-industrial agricultural systems of the past. (Especially, I always emphasize, North America’s indigenous ones…)

After we win the contest, I will consider the school gardening “revival” to have been a success, and we can move on together to new images that are more appropriate for the diverse food justice & sustainability revolutions of today. Thanks for your support! ~ Ethan