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Jo Ann Baumgartner and Sam Earnshaw: Organizers and Farmers

baumgartner&earnshaw

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Title	Jo Ann Baumgartner and Sam Earnshaw: Organizers and Farmers
Series Title	Cultivating a Movement: An Oral History of Organic Farming and Sustainable Agriculture on California’s Central Coast. Edited by Irene Reti and Sarah Rabkin.
Creator	Baumgartner, Jo Ann, narrator Earnshaw, Sam, narrator Rabkin, Sarah, interviewer
Publisher	Santa Cruz, Calif. : University of California, Santa Cruz, University Library
Date of Publication	2010
Description/Abstract	54 pages. Jo Ann Baumgartner directs the Wild Farm Alliance, based in Watsonville, California. WFA’s mission, as described on the organization’s website, is "to promote agriculture that helps to protect and restore wild Nature." Through research, publications, presentations, events, policy work, and consulting, the organization works to "connect food systems with ecosystems." Sam Earnshaw is Central Coast regional coordinator of the Community Alliance with Family Farmers. Working with CAFF’s farmscaping program, he helps farmers plant hedgerows and create grass waterways, improving production while increasing biodiversity and wildlife habitat on their lands. In 2009 Earnshaw was awarded the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign’s Pollinator Advocate Award as part of an international effort to promote public awareness of bees, bats, butterflies, beetles, and other animals that enable the reproduction of over seventy-five percent of flowering plants. In 2008 Earnshaw and Baumgartner received the Stewards of Sustainable Agriculture ("Sustie") award from the Ecological Farming Association. Baumgartner and Earnshaw met in the early 1980s while working on a five-year research project using reclaimed wastewater for crop irrigation in the Salinas Valley. Alarmed by the toxicity of the conventional agricultural environment, the couple became interested in organic production; when they left the research project in the mid-1980s, they started their own organic Neptune Farms, in Santa Cruz County. During this period they were involved with the development of California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF) and with the early days of the Ecological Farming Association (EFA). In the early 1990s, Earnshaw began working for CAFF’s predecessor, California Action Network, with its newly founded Lighthouse Farm Network, organizing breakfasts for farmers to share ideas and strategies for sustainable production. In the mid-to-late 1990s, Earnshaw and Baumgartner both worked with the Campaign to Save Pajaro Valley Farmlands and Wetlands, ultimately creating a 25-year urban growth boundary in the area. Sarah Rabkin conducted this interview with Baumgartner and Earnshaw at the WFA offices on Monday, May 18, 2009. At the time, both were giving considerable attention to issues related to food safety--a pressing concern in the wake of recent events. In the fall of 2006, an outbreak of food-borne illness caused by the pathogen E. coli 0157:H7 had sickened about 200 people and killed three; the outbreak was traced to bagged fresh spinach grown in San Benito County. Industry and government leaders were calling for the elimination of farm hedgerows and other non-crop vegetation in order to create "clean" or "sterile" growing environments, despite compelling evidence that the pathogen originated elsewhere. Baumgartner and Earnshaw were working hard to educate farmers, industry and government representatives, and the general public--explaining the benefits of farm biodiversity for soil and water conservation and ecological health, and promoting best practices for keeping the food supply safe.
Subject.LCSH	California Certified Organic Farmers (Organization) Farmers' markets Community Alliance with Family Farmers Wild Farm Alliance Food--Safety measures Habitat conservation Women farmers Pajaro River Valley (Calif.)
Subject.Local	Sustainable agriculture--history Organic farming--United States--History Organic farming--California Organic farming--Political aspects Organic farming--Environmental aspects
Geographic Location.TGN	Santa Cruz Santa Cruz (county) California United States
Language	English
Owning Institution & Contact Info	Regional History Project, University Library, UC Santa Cruz
Owning Institution Homepage	Owning Institution homepage: http://library.ucsc.edu/regional-history-project
Copyright Statement	All uses of these manuscripts are covered by copyright agreement between the interviewees and the Regents of the University of California. Under “fair use” standards, excerpts of up to six hundred words (per interview) may be used without the Regional History Project’s permission as long as the materials are properly cited. The citation should include the title of the oral history, the name of the narrator, the date of publication, the pages of the oral history from which the excerpts come, and the fact that the oral history was produced by the Regional History Project at the University Library, UC Santa Cruz. Any excerpting beyond six hundred words requires the written permission of the University Librarian, appropriate citation, and may require a fee, especially if this is a commercial publication or production. Under certain circumstances, not-for-profit users may be granted a waiver of the fee. In all instances, the Regional History Project requests a copy of the publication for the UCSC Library’s collection. Please contact ihreti@ucsc.edu for copyright questions.