Leading Food Writers, Organizations Across U.S. Urge UC Berkeley: Embrace Gill Tract Farm, Don't Police it

Leading Food Writers and Organizations Across U.S. Urge UC Berkeley to "Embrace the Gill Tract Farm, Not Police it"

A growing list of America’s leading food writers, activists and organizations—including luminaries Bill McKibben, Frances Moore Lappé and Naomi Klein—have endorsed the following statement in support of Occupy the Farm at the Gill Tract in Albany, CA. For more information, please contact Christopher Cook at cdcook@igc.org, and visit http://www.takebackthetract.com/index.php/the-farm.

As dedicated food writers, authors, activists and academics, we wish to convey our strong dismay with UC Berkeley's actions to oust Occupy the Farm at the Gill Tract--and we urge the administration to embrace the community farm that has been created there instead of policing it.

This is public land being stewarded by a land-grant institution. We urge the administration and campus police to drop all charges against the farmers and protesters, and to engage in good-faith negotiations to ensure that the Gill Tract is reserved for community-based agricultural use to be governed as a form of commons in conjunction with the farmers and local community.  

The Gill Tract farmers are rooted in the Albany community, and supported by hard-working volunteers. Their vision of using the space to teach children agro-ecology, feed those in need in the community and train future farmers in organic farming is an admirable use of the land and can be realized without affecting the UC negatively. In fact, UC should welcome this stewardship as an instance of community-based education and sustainable land use.

1. Christopher Cook, Author of Diet for a Dead Planet
2. Bill McKibben, Author of Eaarth
3. Frances Moore Lappé, Author of Diet for a Small Planet
4. Naomi Klein, Author of The Shock Doctrine
5. Raj Patel, Author of Stuffed and Starved
6. Miguel Altieri, Professor of Agroecology, UC Berkeley
7. Y. Armando Nieto, Executive Director, California Food and Justice Coalition
8. Anna Lappé, Author of Diet for a Hot Planet
9. Michele Simon, President of Eat Drink Politics, Author of Appetite for Profit
10. Annie Leonard, Author of The Story of Stuff
11. Bryant Terry, Food justice activist and author of The Inspired Vegan
12. Claire Hope Cummings, Author of Uncertain Peril 
13. Communities for a Better Environment
14. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Senior Scientist, Pesticide Action Network North America; Lead Author on UN International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)
15. David Bacon, Author of Illegal People
16. Organic Consumers Association
17. United States Food Sovereignty Alliance
18. Eric Holt-Gimenez, Executive Director of Food First, Author of Food Rebellions, Crisis and the Hunger for Justice
19. Gail Wadsworth, Executive Director, California Institute for Rural Studies
20. Dave Murphy, Founder / Executive Director, Food Democracy Now!
21. Frederick Kirschenmann, Author of Cultivating an Ecological Conscience:  Essays From a Farmer Philosopher
22. Bernard Rollin, Author of Farm Animal Welfare, University Distinguished Professor, Colorado State University
23. Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project
24. Michael Leon Guerrero, National Coordinator, Grassroots Global Justice Alliance
25. Pesticide Watch Education Fund
26. Mark Winne, Author of Closing the Food Gap
27. Jim & Megan Gerritsen, Owners, Wood Prairie Farm, Bridgewater, Maine
28. Tom Philpott, Mother Jones writer and Maverick Farms co-founder
29. Jan Poppendieck, Author of Free for All: Fixing School Food in America
30. Jason Mark, Co-manager, Alemany Farm and co-author of Building the Green Economy
31. Michelle Mascarenhas-Swan, Co-Director of Movement Generation Justice & Ecology Project
32. Chris Carlsson, Author of Nowtopia
33. Shaping San Francisco
34. The Cornucopia Institute, Cornucopia, Wisconsin
35. Lisa Stokke, Associate Director, Food Democracy Now!
36. Peter Rosset, Researcher, Center for the Study of Rural Change in Mexico (CECCAM)
37. Chef Jenny Huston, Founder & Executive Chef at Farm to Table Services
38. Steve Striffler, author of Chicken: The Dangerous Transformation of America's Favorite Food
39. Ashley Schaeffer, Rainforest Action Network
40. Marilyn Borchardt, Food First, Oakland, CA
41. Judy Wicks, Founder, White Dog Cafe, Philadelphia
42. Jeff Conant, Author of A Community Guide to Environmental Health
43. Global Justice Ecology Project, Vermont
44. Center for Earth, Energy and Democracy, Minneapolis, Minnesota
45. Melinda Hemmelgarn, Freelance writer and Food Sleuth Radio host
46. Tanya Kerssen, Writer and activist
47. Erin Middleton, California Food and Justice Coalition
48. People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights
49. Taj James, Founder and Executive Director of Movement Strategy Center
50. Starhawk
51. Deetje Boler, Every Voice produce
52. SmartMeme
53. Ruckus Society
54. Movement Strategy Center
55. Yoni Landau, Co-Founder, CoFED (Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive
56. Gavin Raders and Haleh Zandi: Co-founders of Planting Justice
57. Donald Bixby,  Author of Taking Stock: North American Livestock Census, former director of American Livestock Breeds Conservancy
58. Earth Activist Training