E77 Tammi Jonas - hands-in-the dirt activist encouraging a de-growth model of farming

Sharing her evolution from academic keyboard warrior to her current reality of being an agroecological pork and beef farmer who's pretty darned handy with the butchers knife and equally as sharp of mind in her contributions to the UN small scale farming policy initiatives.

Tammi Jonas is indeed a force of the natural world, never backwards in coming forwards but mellowing with every decade and sharing her successes and failures for the sake of thousands who are following in her footsteps towards a life of farming democracy.

Episode Summary

• We dive right into how she fits it all in
• Leadership - her style of leading from the front with doggedness and squared soldiers
• Research and UN food systems mobilisation 
• Credibility that comes out of the dirt
• Her commitment to food sovereignty across aaaalllllll the tiers of the movement
• The brain breaking need to relate local practices to global policy
• Linking good global initiatives to local practices
• Applying food sovereignty thinking to general consumption issues
• Taking power back  one skill at a time
• We can’t buy ourselves out of this mess - we literally need to joyfully work competently through the upskilling and sharing of 
• The illusion of choice when you see thousands of items for sale in a supermarket is not a place to genuinely begin
• Why she considers herself an “agroecological” farmer (political, social, Agroecological theory of change is considered a science, social movement and practical - dedicated to circular bio economies rather than a purchasing of inputs. Agroecology rejects capitalism but values labour over yield.
• ‘Benefaction’ - enabling the farm to do their tasks joyfully
• The rich reality of running internship programs - who are welcomed with the knowledge that they are becoming food sovereignty warriors
• AFSA - first-peoples-first initiative
• Solidarity - garnering unexplained wholeness but remembering we are all here for each other
• Why there's value in building a new system rather than creating one from the ashes of the old one.
• Why the rise and fall of farms and community orgs is part and parcel of the movement and should be encouraged
• Being comfortable to share the successes AND the failures as a gift for the greater good
• Building a de-growth mentality to avoid the ruthless capitalist system
• Creating small scale farming businesses that are FUN rather than slaves to growth
• Keeping her eye on the end game dilutes her need to be binary and rage filled
• Why the States are not actually similar to the Australian culture  - they are wedded to a growth mentality that we don't  have so we have an opportunity to learn from their mistakes.
• Why it’s ok to scale back from the initial vision
• Framing ‘enough’ as being disentangled from the capitalist system - seeing the sky, feeding her community and others and being ok to go slow when needed.

References

Jonai Farms
Righteous Porkchop: Finding a Life and Good Food Beyond Factory Farms
Farming democracy
Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance

Thanks to our podcast partners:
Wwoof Australia
Nutrisoil

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