John Ikerd

The coronavirus pandemic has revealed the absolute economic dependency of farming communities on the corporately controlled agri-food system. Producers have ...

In my previous blog post, I focused on opportunities for specific changes in the food system created by the COVID-19 crisis.

A response to questions I have been asked about the implications of the coronavirus pandemic for the future of the food system.

“American Farmers Feed the World!” This popular myth is promoted to maintain public support for a failed system of industrial agriculture.

Opening day at the farmers market signals a new season of hope. This spring, the coronavirus crises has changed this hope to fear.

Our life is still a part of the life of the Earth. Our soul is still a part of the soul of the earth.

We are living through a time of fundamental change in human society, as is becoming increasingly clear. Climate change, fossil energy depletion, loss of biod...

It’s long past time for transformational change in U.S. farm policy.

In meeting the challenges of climate change, we can choose; We can bet on market-based solutions or follow the path of the Green New Deal.

We are now seeing a corporate takeover of dairy production, which is the last bastion of full-time, independent animal production.

Agroecology  is a science, a farming system, and a social movement. It obviously is a merging of the words agriculture and ecology. Its basic purpose is reco...

“The Sustainable Iowa Land Trust or SILT was launched 2015 to help save and protect the best of the family farm – small, diverse, clean farms that feed Iowan...

I seem to view organic standards a bit differently from most people involved in the organic movement. I see standardization as a requisite for industrializat...

Questions of “sound science” and “burden of proof” invariably arise from conflicting indictments and defenses of industrial agricultural as either a threat o...

Over the past several weeks I have posted blogs of my responses to some of the most common questions asked by defenders of CAFOs. I have integrated all of my...

How can crops produced without soil be called “organic”? They can in the United States – but not in Canada, Mexico, Japan, or 24 European countries that proh...

Healthy, sustainable local food systems must function as a complex, dynamic, integrally-connected living ecosystems, like the diverse community of living org...

Skepticism seems to persist regarding whether the organic/local/sustainable food movement will actually eventually replace the current industrial food system...

In 2014, I was commissioned by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations to write the Regional Report for North America in recognition of ...

Note: Prepared for presentation at the Food Secure Canada 9th Annual Assembly in Toronto Canada on Oct. 15, 2016.  JI The word “innovation” is so frequently ...