John Ikerd
Who’s Gonna Shoot the Pig?
It is hog killing weather in southeast Iowa. When I was growing up on the farm we butchered hogs during cold spells in early winter, when...
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John Ikerd
- Nov 5, 2022
- 5 min
Farm Policies for Sustainability
The essentials of sustainability may seem too philosophical or abstract to be of any real value until they are applied to real world...
John Ikerd
- Sep 7, 2022
- 5 min
Hierarchy of Sustainable Values
In a previous post I explained the basic differences among economic, social, and ethical values. Economic values meet individual,...
John Ikerd
- Jul 18, 2022
- 4 min
Sustainable Farm Management
The basic principles of managing sustainable organizations are perhaps most clearly apparent in farm management. The selective boundaries...
John Ikerd
- Jul 5, 2022
- 4 min
Worldview of Sustainable Agriculture
The hierarchical worldview of sustainability also characterizes the individual entities or smaller wholes that make up the larger whole...
John Ikerd
- Jun 15, 2022
- 4 min
The Hierarchy of Authentic Sustainability
I ended my previous post by explaining that the worldview of authentic sustainability reflects an understanding that economies are a part...
John Ikerd
- Jun 8, 2022
- 4 min
Typical Worldview of Sustainability
In my previous post, I related the “five stages of grief” to the stages of transition from an unsustainable to sustainable society. They...
John Ikerd
- May 17, 2022
- 4 min
Stages of Change to Sustainability
The “five stages of grief” are widely used to describe the process people go through in facing, and eventually accepting, the reality of...
John Ikerd
- Nov 10, 2021
- 6 min
Successful Small Family Farms: Myth or Reality?
Someone recently forwarded me a link to an opinion piece by freelance writer Sarah Mock that begins: “I tried to prove that small family...
John Ikerd
- Nov 1, 2021
- 4 min
The Values of Sustainability
Everything eventually boils down to economics! How many times have we heard this assertion—as if it were settled truth? Farmers need an...
John Ikerd
- Oct 12, 2021
- 5 min
Sustainability and the Laws of Nature
We humans are subject to the same laws of nature that govern the rest of the universe. If this were not true, there would be no concern...
John Ikerd
- Sep 29, 2021
- 54 min
Essentials of Economic Sustainability - Collection
Ten years ago, I wrote a book titled The Essentials of Economic Sustainability. It was written initially for short courses I taught in...
John Ikerd
- Aug 14, 2021
- 5 min
The Economic Realities of CAFOs
I don’t like watching videos of my own presentations, but I force myself to do it from time to time. I know how I feel about...
John Ikerd
- May 23, 2021
- 4 min
A Tribute to Elsie Herring
Elsie Herring was a friend! We weren’t close personal friends but professional friends who shared a sense of mutual respect and common...
John Ikerd
- Apr 12, 2021
- 23 min
Twenty Responses to Defenders of CAFOs
When speaking at public events about the negative impacts of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operators or CAFOs, I am often asked how best to...
John Ikerd
- Mar 25, 2021
- 6 min
Revelations of COVID-19—One Year Later
It has been a year now since COVID 19 was proclaimed a pandemic. Virtually everyone has experienced the disruption of the food system in...
John Ikerd
- Feb 21, 2021
- 5 min
Why Do We Need a Farm Bill?
Why do we need a “Farm Bill”? Farmers make up only 1.3% of the total U.S. population and even less than 10% of the population of counties...
John Ikerd
- Jan 21, 2021
- 3 min
A Green New Deal for Family Farms & Rural Communities
The "Green New Deal"[i] has been systematically demonized by corporate propaganda targeting rural America. Rural people have been led to...
John Ikerd
- Nov 24, 2020
- 3 min
A New Agenda for Farm Bill 2023
I have been writing a regular column for the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development for the past 10 years. My...
John Ikerd
- May 5, 2020
- 6 min
Coronavirus Reveals Corporate Colonization of Rural Economies
The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the absolute economic dependency of farming communities on the corporately controlled agri-food...
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