 who is organizer with rural Vermont, where I spent the last 10 years or so working with Vermont's community of farmers and farm workers to listen and hear from them about what's working, what isn't, and how we can collaborate and work together to make things better. And we work a lot in the policy and regulatory world primarily. We have a very wonderful sense of Vermont's really robust network of community food providers and agroecological farmers. In my work with rural Vermont, I've been working with Via Campesina for a few years now, and in January I had the honor of being invited to Mexico to an agroecological and movement building school where I got to meet my friend Freddie and Jesus and many other monica, many other people that are here with us today. And I was so inspired by that experience because what's happening at these agroecology and movement building schools is building our political power. We're teaching and learning about how we can work with agroecological principles and be kind to the earth as we produce our food and nourish each other. And we're building people power to grow the movement so we can all have a livable future. The thing that I have noticed in Vermont is how isolating farming can be. We don't have as many of these opportunities for people to come together to be able to get off the farm and to grow that power and make changes to the scale and the extent that we need it. So when I got to meet Freddie and many friends that are involved in these schools elsewhere, it filled my heart with such an immense inspiration that we could maybe do that here and work together to co-create something as community-driven and grassroots as is happening in other parts of the world. And so we hatched an idea and we're at the very, very beginning of it. This weekend marks the beginning and you all are part of that moment of starting this. And so this school, if it's going to be relevant to people here in Vermont and regionally and be part of potentially a larger network where we can support other communities to do this work and change it around and adapt it and make it relevant to them, then we can create a network and grow this strength and grow this power and lean into the support from our international comrades that have been doing this for a long time. I'm going to ask Freddie now to talk a little bit about the structure of how we've been having these conversations and doing this work. And then we're going to spend some time here, both in small groups and together, talking about what this school would need to look like here for it to be relevant to our communities. Does that sound good? The Union de Pueblos de Morelos. And we were lucky enough to receive an articulation of young people from the North American countryside in our space in the South Unicam in February. And we met a lot of comrades inspired by the need to continue building, to continue to boost agroecology and food sovereignty. Then there was a group of various comrades who were here. Some of them arrived and we started discussing and analyzing the possibility of building or reflecting on the need to boost a process of agroecological formation in Vermont. And we agreed to make this space available today because we've been here for more than six months with chats, meetings in Zoom, once every week for six months, discussing and debating and building from the experiences that each one of them has in their spaces. And what I want to share with you is what we've been hearing these days. It's the advances of this collective work, which we call until now political-pedagogical coordination. First, from a series of questions that we've been asked. First, we asked ourselves why it's important, why it's necessary to make agroecological formation. Or if it's important or if it's necessary or not to make agroecological formation. So we made a list of 20 questions of that type. Who would we do that agroecological formation with? Who would be the students or the educators? Who would be the educators? What would be the themes we would work on? What would be the modality we would work on? And there we have a lot and a little bit of previous experiences that already exist in Latin America. Impressed by the Campesina road for more than 15 years. Which are the Latin American agroecological institutes. For their centuries and years. The first year in Venezuela began between 2005 and 2007. Then there was another one in Brazil simultaneously. Then in Paraguay. And now there are more in Chile. Here they are with the Chilean people. In Colombia, in Nicaragua. And it's a strategy that has the Campesina road to multiply education and agroecological formation with the Campesinos. And this discussion of this group has nourished a lot of these experiences. Having it clear, I would say that it is not Calconicopia. It is not Copipeche. There is a road that someone already made. And we can recover, grab, rescue the value of these processes. But it has to be adjusted to the local reality. And if there is an initiative, a proposal to build an agroecological school. In Vermont and a network of agroecological schools in the United States. Modestly, from Latin America, we contribute and contribute with the experience of these days. So that you build your own process that responds to your historical, political, cultural, environmental reality. And that really serves for what you need. In that sense, this group has achieved some agreements, some basic understanding of what an agroecological school in Vermont could be. One of the most important, I consider, is that a school of agroecology recovers, rescues the principles and values. The understanding that about agroecology and food sovereignty has built the Campesina road. Like this global movement that agglutinates the Campesina road worldwide. And that has to do with many elements. And in the morning, while Cali was talking here about solidarity economy, there were interesting interventions that made rethinking something that is key. And it is that we cannot think of agroecology or food sovereignty if we don't think of land and territory. If we don't think of seeds, in defense of seeds. If we don't think of the knowledge and the ancestral knowledge of our people. If we don't think of just relations of production and our direction structures, in horizontal or holistic relations that we can plasm in our structures. So those are the basic principles that we consider. Another important element that I mentioned already has to do with these processes. These processes have to be felt by the local people so that they can be useful. Jesus gave us a message yesterday in his intervention. One of the founders of the Boricua Foundation told us that if it is necessary, it has to be possible. And I will recover that. If it is necessary that we have food systems, just for everyone, for everyone, for everyone. If it is necessary that we have the capacity and the right to produce and consume as we want, then it has to be possible to do it. And that's the invitation that this collective of colleagues, colleagues who have been working on this proposal, we want to leave them. That we dream, that we do the exercise of closing our eyes and we project ourselves five months, one year, ten years and we think about how we want to be in our field, how we want to be producing, how we want to be consuming. And if a school of agroecology or a network of agroecology schools can be a tool, not the only one, that can be a tool that allows us young people, not young people, adults, children to build a collective consciousness, a community consciousness that allows us to learn, that allows us to remove vices that we bring from a capitalist system of consumerism, of individualism, of exclusion, and that allows us to build a system between all of us, more inclusive, more equitable for food. Then there's the idea of an agroecology school in construction, and the invitation is that in this space we can learn the general ideas that exist and each one of us puts what he considers what it means. Based on various elements that respond to these questions, it's necessary why, for what a school of agroecology, who would be there, who would be teaching, who would be learning, what we're going to learn and what we're going to teach, what we're going to exchange, what we're going to build. And the most important thing, I think, is when we're going to do it. When are we going to do it? Because there are companions, companions inside the team. We still like to talk a lot, not so much to others. And the idea is how we combine what we say with what we do and what we say with what we do with what we feel and with what we feel. It's looking for that connection between all of us and all of us with our being and with the Pachamama, with nature. And with the explanation that Molly gave. So the idea is we had a discussion in the collective on how to work on this issue. If we present a document that takes months to build, look, here it is, and read and review and contribute, or we invert the feeling and rather we recover from you who are going to be the base of this school, how do you want that school to be? And that there is a process of retroalimentation that is adjusted to these discussions that you've had and there may be another moment of evolution. I hope that it doesn't take long and that it means the beginning of the school with a first theoretical, practical, reflective course of agriculture in Vermont. So that said, thank you very much and I'll go back to Molly. So what we are talking about here is not building something new. We have so much here and so many people that have been doing this work for a long, long time. What we're talking about is building relationships and building trust at the speed of trust and co-creating an opportunity to be inclusive and to build our power. This school, as we've envisioned it, with this leadership team that Freddie talked about, would be entirely grassroots. It would be a non-institutional space that is co-created by the people who would use it. It might be itinerant with multiple campuses across the region and this area to really lean into the strengths that we have and to help make this kind of opportunity available to more people. As Freddie said, it would combine agroecological technical training with political education and traditional knowledge. As we look to our friends at IALAS across South and Central America, how they've been doing things with great success in their communities. What we're hoping to do this weekend is transition leadership slowly. It's going to take some time, but from this international group we've been supporting this idea based on their experience and bring that home and find local leaders here that want to help us build this process and move it forward in a way that works for here. Well, all the time, hoping that we can create a model that other communities will be interested in adapting and changing and making work for them so we can keep supporting each other and building this power. So we're hoping that you'll help us because we don't really know what we're doing. We have a lot of ideas and we have a lot of experience to lean into, but we have not figured it all out and the idea is not for us to figure it all out at all. The idea is for this to be built from the ground up. And so we have some questions for you and we're soliciting feedback and ideas and thoughts and concerns. And so we're hoping that you'll help us. So we're planning on forming four groups because that's how many translators that we have so we can have these conversations together and we have facilitators from members of the current school leadership team to help that conversation. And so we're going to give you four questions to spend some time on and you'll have about 15 minutes per question as a group to provide some answers and thoughts and feedback or anything that's on your mind. And then at the end we'll come back together and we'll ask the groups to share what they came up with and what those discussions were and how everyone is feeling about this. Does that sound good? Preguntas? Questions? We couldn't have done that good of a job. They're ready, they're primed. Okay. Nope? Yes. Can we have people volunteer from different states to come over and help out and do that? In your small groups right now? No, later. Later. I hope so, yes. So part of this idea is that we would be creating a network and opportunities for exchange to keep learning from each other because if I have no other takeaways it's that I have so much to learn from every single person here for the opportunity to do so and I'd like to create more of these opportunities because frankly we plan too much on the agenda and there's not enough time to hang out. So if you're ready we're hoping that folks can help us move some tables so there can be four quadrants and disperse yourselves fairly evenly amongst them. Do you have a question, Grace? Are there any other questions before we begin? And can we have the members of the PPC that are present? Could you just raise your hand so folks can see who have been having these conversations? And not everyone is here. I know we're missing Eila and at least a few more people. And Kali is also part of this group. Tammy, Tanama, Henry. So there's going to be Wavy. Where's Wavy? Raise your hand. Thank you, Wavy. Cool. So do you think we'll all fit? I think we'll all fit. If we set up four tables, yes. And so you're going to have one translator per group and there's going to be consecutive. Is that the right word? Translation. And so our translators are working so incredibly hard to help us all understand each other and be together. And it's going to be a little bit of a process. But we'll get there in the end. Ready? Set. Yes. Go. Yay! So Henry is one of our facilitators. Wavy is a facilitator. Tammy is a facilitator. And Tanama is a facilitator. I would like to add no pressure but the wonderful Nuestra Mesa BK kitchen team has offered to open up their space for two people to come make food with them and share political, social, revolutionary space with them. So if any two people want to go up there, please do. I forgot an important part. Hold on, hold on. The question that we're hoping to answer here today is why in agroecology and movement building school in Vermont and what would it need to look like for it to serve the communities here? There's four questions that you're going to spend 15 minutes on each one. And the first one, you'll have these all written down, is why is this a good idea? The second one is why is this not a good idea? The third one is what would be needed in order to make this a reality. And the fourth one is what are any potential trade-offs or conflicts that may arise out of this process? Does that make sense? Yes. I just want to make a brief announcement as far as the interpretation devices. We're at capacity with some of the devices, so please just make sure you take care of yours. We're not going to need them for this session in particular, but just make sure you have them for the following sessions later on in the day. Thank you so much. Our people are comfortable dividing into groups themselves, or would you like to come talk? You can do it yourselves, right? Come on. Yeah, thank you. So, crew here feels like they understand the exercise that we're about to undertake. Yeah? This is the first one. Yeah. So, crew here feels like they understand the exercise that we're about to undertake. Yeah? This is my dear friend, Kat Buxton, and she's going to explain the exercise in brief really quickly for all of us. Oh, okay. We are going to answer four questions, and Henry knows what those are, so we didn't have to remember them. And we are going to do that slowly and patiently in two languages so that we give each other time to process. Yeah. Yeah, the two languages slow thing is a major asset. Cool. So, those questions are why is an agroecology school a good idea? Why is it a bad idea? You know, separate questions. What are the needs? That was one of the questions before. And why in Vermont? I think. What was the second one that went at a time? I've got a logistical question. I don't know if around here there are, if everybody understands and is able to speak English. I guess if anyone isn't. Yeah, does anybody not speak English? Everybody around the circle here is English speaker. Yeah. So should we do it monolingual English? Jesus, do you feel comfortable? Jesus is on the ball. I know, right? So we can be in English. Thank you. So what I would like to propose is that we approach this first question first in a go round. And when it comes to first you say your name and where you're from, your pronouns, and your organization if you want to. Just to be supporting us, getting to know each other a little bit. So, Simone, would you like to start? Why not? I'm Simon. I'm from New York and Quebec. I use all the pronouns except it. And do I have to answer that question already? Yeah, but let's keep it short. Let's just throw out an idea. It's a good idea because we need a school of agroecology, but this is a very short answer. Yeah, good. Yeah, an itchel. I'm Iris. I'm coming from California. I work with Jericho Movement for Political Prisoners. Right now we're working on an international tribunal to charge the United States with genocide on black, brown and indigenous people. I'd like to talk more if anyone has interest to talk about that more. Aki Day pronouns is fine. And I believe that this is a good idea to have an agroecology school because I feel like there's a lot of talk in this country about permaculture and about different principles. And I think agroecology centers indigenous and ancestral wisdom in a non-capitalist point of answer. That's my input. And forgive me, I'll be gone for like five minutes and come right back here in a second. Thank you. Go right ahead. Oh, okay. Hi, my name is Grace. She, her pronouns. I'm a fellow at UVM this summer. And I think building a school in Vermont in particular is a good idea because Vermont I feel like fosters this kind of conversation and provides a great space for this kind of education. And I'm Molly. I mean, she, her pronouns. And to me, an agroecology school is a very good idea because agroecology is quite well known internationally among civil society, but it's virtually unknown in the United States. It's a very unfamiliar concept. And here we are in the belly of the beast. This is the heart of industrial agriculture in the United States. So we desperately need to be creating and building awareness of what the alternatives are. Agroecology is the best alternative out there to the agroindustrial system. Is that my turn? Yes. I'm Grace also. I think there are three Graces here at least. I use she, her pronouns, and I work for Novo Vermont out here in Vermont. I work for Novo Station in Vermont and I live in Vermont. And I am really excited about the conversations. Grateful to the organizers and all the folks who've traveled from so far to share your knowledge with us. And I'm holding the question about how we get Vermont farmers to see themselves as partners and sort of ask questions. Hi, I'm Mindy. I use she, her pronouns. They organize lots of people around the state. Around climate justice and land. I think in agroecology school, particularly with La Via Campesina, principles is a good idea in Vermont. Because we live in a place here that acts as climate refuge where there are people coming here to be here and it's a necessity to organize around how to welcome people here and how to be on land here in different ways in this transition era. I think it's essential. I'm Kenya. I use she, their pronouns. I work with the North East Farmers of Color Land Trust on every town project. And I think it's a great idea because we're doing it relatively and we have to fix it and continue to survive on this land. My name's Anne Miller. I live just down the hill and I start from being an organization. We're just organizing. I only ever heard the word agroecology about three days ago so I don't know very much about it yet but I think that we already have a climate in Vermont where people talk. A lot of people talk. It's at least adjacent to what I heard here. So there's already, I think some familiarity with Anne's support for some of the concepts. Whether, and the reason maybe for having a school with them that they need to be more practice. Hello everybody. My name is Kessus. I'm from Elm. I'm from Puerto Rico. And I think it is important because agroecology can be like a field like this and be a political home for everybody and also agroecology can be like a lifestyle. It's not only about like producing food and brings cohesion and communication to have a base, have a group of people that are organized. My name is Megan. I use they them pronouns. I represent the Northeast Kingdom Organizing as a community organizer. I think this is a fantastic idea. I'm extremely excited about it. I farmed for 10 years to care of a nuclear couple and burned out and I so invested in people building power together and I think that is about giving land back to people. I'm excited to talk about it. My name is Isidoro and I come from Texas. I represent the Pamorca Association. And I think it is very important that you have the school here in order to be protecting the land and to protect the soils and to protect the food. Healthy food for people and most important is to have students, new youth people to come over and I learn from what you can build over here in your month. So I think it is important that the schools can be open as soon as possible. My name is Ellen. I use the pronouns. I am here with the remote and that is based on West Central. And I think that I would call this school in Vermont to be very important. It is connected with it has become more regional to connect with other communities neighboring and outside the lot like the old people in general and in part of our field. And I think it is a couple of types of biological work that has already been happening in the area and seek to form a partnership with some already doing this work and connect. My name is Kamal. I live in Atlanta with the organization called Community Rebooters that does drafts of organizing and administration and team violence in Black communities. I think it could be a good idea to hear the pronouns of that. I think it could be a good idea because I think you have a high concentration here of people who are in the open to a concept because of the school's mid-care geographical background progressive background and so uniting those folks together under a good model. We're going to get a good idea of the same thing. Nancy, her pronouns can come on and I think they're going to be a great idea and I think it's going to be necessary for our multiple systems failures and for our solutions to be building awareness and learn and transition. My name is Kat. She has pronouns I'm from Carrot, Vermont. I work with bugs and plants in soil and people and I think this is the most important thing that we could be doing to encourage large-scale behavior change, system change and get ready for the massive impacts of people that are going to in our already privileged people. My name is Amanda. I think it's a necessary idea because bad ideas are a well-worn group and they have a really loud megaphone and perpetuate themselves really well and so should you really train it getting together and amplifying the better practice and the better principles and the only way to do that is to build and fight. My name is Henry and I essentially think this is a good idea. I agree with a lot of the strategic principles but also I just am noticing that a lot of people are already there. That's why I'm here. Because this is what the people who are making sense in so many of the other areas of important work are all already saying they're giving them that formal opportunity to work together in a bigger social movement body using traditional ideas of education, organizing and mobilization. I think we're as ready as we're going to be. So yeah it's the undertaking I've been scared of for a long time. I'm sort of bummed that you and all your friends are here to give us all this work to do. Thank you so much. That was awesome. Does anybody it's transition time now? Yeah. Does anybody have any sort of thoughts to help lend these ideas or some kind of conclusive thing that they'd like to contribute to this list? In response to the second question of why this is not a good idea because it seems as if this group is pretty much in agreement but this is a necessary way to build power to build knowledge, to build solidarity with other agri-college schools and a movement international. Yeah I'm glad you said the internationalism piece I think we were all thinking about climate there's one sky and here in the heart of the Imperium we'll talk about the United States like you know and really trying to re-imagine the planet Earth it's an amazing opportunity that Lovia is bringing to us so yeah I've got some more thoughts I don't know Vermont very well but in my perspective it's like in United States is the end of the world so up north it seems like it has been saved from some of the agro-business destruction so if we want to create here a model of agri-college it feels like that there is space for that the environment is much destructed by agro-business so it's it's less of a fight in comparison of doing that in the Midwest or somewhere in the United States that is already all destroyed by agro-business would you all like to maybe take a little bit of we got a can here I don't think it's a bad idea but I think if we're all for the school and this idea and these concepts Vermont is a very white place and it's very easy to follow white leadership for everything that happens here and I think that's obviously one of the main points to not do that but I think it's definitely something to be wary of in this white place I'm not a serious thing this is too much of a cost for concern but one of the things I do have is placement and travel traveling to Vermont is very expensive because the Burlington airport is just not a lot of people fly out of there and so flights tend to be very expensive and if we're thinking of strategically a place where people can easily get to a place for international travel and to be able to invite our international partners then that can be a challenge financially especially and logistically and thank you for using the word challenge and think that this conversation is about the opportunities and the obstacles the challenges, concerns, not why is it a bad idea and I'll just say that is one of the main reasons why we're trying to create a network because Vermont's only going to be a little bit relevant with that I'm also thinking about this is a great idea if we all really get behind it and if we don't I don't know if it's a good idea that's where I feel personal hesitancy and that's more around accountability where it's like I keep wondering what are we going to really commit to with a set of principles and then all find our own strategies and niches within that but what can we actually commit to together and if this can be that or part of that I want to be here and if it's not I want to find that thing I want to be involved in that thing and that can look a bunch of different ways but what I notice is that everybody is extremely burned out and people are overworked and burned out and so if we're going to be starting another significant and meaningful project we've got to be accountable to each other and be fully in not just a toe in and so I feel genuine hesitancy about being fully in unless everybody is fully in you know yeah because our lives have to shift actually to like do this work and to make this happen and so if we are going to commit to that and do that together let's fucking do it and if we're not going to it needs to be something else to be organizing around you know and we lose our circle process yeah I was kind of wondering the same thing I really like the circle thing everybody is going to talk and if we popcorn maybe some people aren't going to can we stick with the circle are people comfortable with that of course we're not willing to burn it out of you so we've seen why don't we just start going to the left of you welcome okay we'll just go to the right if we do a circle process we'll be more cool but I think you guys know what we're doing I think we got porn actually kind of okay sounds like you're going next Chris I'm I haven't formed a thought yet I'm sharing similar questions which is about how the process is emergent and I feel like I'm really in the listening place this weekend from a lot of the folks who are doing this work around the globe and trying to understand how it's work where y'all have been doing this just understand before sort of trying to problematize it or champion like understand how it works I still feel like I'm there and I think I'm doing some in my head of like everything that I want to organize around I'm like projecting onto this like this is everything this is like a political home and a social movement and a lifestyle and farm food production and that's what's exciting about it but I'm also like that's what's complex about explaining it and pointing to it and getting people invested in it I think it's just big so I'm still at the like seeking to understand exactly what this would look like your questions about like who's involved in Vermont in championing this idea and your point about like who's already doing this work in New England it's so new to me I don't know the answers to that and I want to learn the answers to that as like a part of this process well so I'm enraised a little bit earlier the point that Vermont is a good place to have an agroecology school because there are no major agro industries here agribusiness here but that's also a reason why I'm not sure that the rest of the country that farmers in the rest of the country would take an agroecology school from Vermont seriously I mean they don't think of Vermont as being a farm state at all Vermont raises maple and and what else it's just not a major agricultural state which is one of the reasons why agroecology can slip in here there won't be that much resistance but will it be the kind of catalyst for agroecology to take over the rest of the country if a place like practical farmers of Iowa they were to suddenly decide agroecology, that's our mission I could imagine that being far more influential this is my first time here it's from the awesome scene all the people that's from Vermont that have been working with La Via and the relationships that are already formed here like how you said it would be cool if Iowa got on to agroecology but I feel like those embers don't exist there as much so I'm looking at like Vermont's got some embers going here and people that build those relations and I don't think that it's all exclusive because me and my brother Jibril we're coming from California and we'd like to have agroecology school out there too but I don't feel like it's exclusive if Vermont has it other places can't have it I'm not sure I trust the relationships and the leadership of La Via as an international organization I don't have as much input on why Vermont's not a good idea unless it excludes other places so if there's a context where a school in Vermont excludes other places then I would say yes it's not a good idea but I don't see that as a reality I just got the 5 minute warning so I'll just pick up the pace a little bit go ahead well I'm taking this idea slowly and continuing my idea of like Vermont being safe from agrobusiness maybe it's not the place in the United States that needs agroecology school the most so maybe people in California need it most or people in Florida I don't know yeah it's a raised question but also it's it's not coming from the top like it's not La Via Campesina that decides to do it here it's the people in Vermont that gather and build that process so we need people elsewhere if we want to do agroecology school in California we need people in California to start that process so it's not us to decide if it's a good idea or no like people here want to do it so they they will or they will not but it's maybe some other place need it more but they might not have the capacity or the ability to do that the reason why it might not be a good idea to just fear paste I worry about the pace at which people move and the results who have we get from that sort of paste generally lead us where we don't want to be so I worry about rushing into anything I think a very slow intentional pace making sure that we're building that social mycelium connecting all along the way and building relationship is the very best thing you can do and that's something I could be in but I also worry like what's going to buy you know I would have a much greater time participating and organizing participation if I knew it was going to be a very slow intentional relationship building process first never mind a school yes I was going to say something similar I think the whiteness of Vermont is what makes it a bad idea or could be a bad idea the fact that it's folks of color black folks probably any black farmers concentrated here as opposed to other places in the country 8 8 that would be disturbing the fact that climate change impacts folks of color black folks in a way doesn't white folks which are the first folks to get it in terms of environmental racism and so forth so the fact that that's not sort of a consideration of where a school should go I think of it as a negative yeah um although I definitely appreciate the opportunity for this kind of community to do that and it's important I definitely think that I have a challenge in why I think this might be a bad idea I would say it's not a really good idea but what I'm worried about is the ways in which that starting an interview with how this school might eclipse the agricultural work that has already been happening here if that work goes unacknowledged and like that feels like I'm naming it actually it feels like something is happening already just to the work that I'm doing I'm connecting with folks, particularly indigenous folks from this region who have been doing agricultural work and involved in the agricultural process for the last few years and who weren't brought into the process of starting agricultural products for school in this region and despite having shown up to encounters before and having formed a leader weren't invited here and you can't comment on it to kind of deliver this feedback it is important I think for this to happen in a relationship and consultation and straight up collaboration with the work that has been happening I think about a collective called EWR which includes folks all across the northeast like now it's got folks in Maine Nipmuk in Western Mass Mashby in Wampanoag in Rhode Island and Eastern Mass in an agricultural process and have been doing agricultural work and have been showing up to encounters doing this work in a relationship and doing these processes and yet weren't formally invited into this space to collaborate in this work and yeah I guess it's a fear of buying and it's a fear that's being expressed with the folks that I work with that an agricultural school that doesn't consult and collaborate directly with the folks that should leave people out of that process to the point that practically in these communities tribal communities have named I'm going to stop showing up to these individuals because where must you have to take them so that's a serious concern that I think that moving forward is a thing that can't continue to be dropped and there are folks in this space right now I guess that we'd love for this to be back and hopefully less people will collaborate and see the organizers I think it's all about getting connections and get a lot of people engaging and getting volunteers from the community here in order to get this place to grow out there so but I think it's not going to be in fall I think one of the challenges that would be faced if this continues is the idea that we're still selling people on land white, monogamous, nuclear couple farming in that a boutique farm market will sustain you, you get on land you have a good business plan and you will make money in this like fall out it's kind of really tiny I say this all the time but it's too much and so I think we're telling a story around what it looks like to be a successful farmer and how the relationship of land will eventually be for you and your small land and I think I wouldn't say why is it a good idea or a bad idea because I'm not from the FF and I say that according to our analysis I got that word on the global level and also like some of the workshops that we had yesterday like I think it's urgent to have try out things and have schools that present us and see if it works or not I think the benefit that I can add is that this process is being accompanied by other experiences that have had their challenges and that are still in that process and so there's kind of that accompaniment but definitely needs to be led by the people on the ground and I know Vermont has certain characteristics that we're learning here the people that we're not from here so yeah I think it's more a debate of the people that live here and I think yeah we can do schools anywhere but we are here and there are people here interested and there has been a lot of careful people to this process so I'm up for like trying out things and that's what I think I guess my thoughts were would echo a lot of the thoughts that I heard mostly around who is teaching who is involved in the process who is deciding how to reach out to people who to reach out to for instance I might have something to contribute to but I am the total coincidence that I'm here today because nobody asked me until I came up here to look at him in foreign and I noticed that there are no very careful local Vermont farmers here and that's not necessary that might be a recent two average school but I think we do have to be very careful about who we imagine our community is and I think there's some obstacles and maybe those are some of the other questions but some potential obstacles here I might point here people like to talk a lot more than they like to do and there's a very people talk about community but they generally don't really like the idea of a work review here in the industry the communal farmer because I live in Vermont and I try to get works for days together and people just like why should that kind of help you and I might want to help you it's like it's a little bit of a foreign feeler concept and again that might be a reason to do it my contribution will just be I think that speaks a lot to what Grace and Mindy said about like is this the thing is this the movement context over having one aspect of are we going to grow some vegetables or have a lifestyle or have a revolutionary economy and things like that and I just think we are the ones that we've been waiting for is always true if the time is getting late and we've got to have a movement here's this international movement that showed up in the yard and it's like hey let's roll the Cubans started their revolution with mass education the propaganda phase and moved into replacing the economy with another economy you know so this is an opportunity and it'll probably fail and we'll have to reconvene and try again so let's go ahead and run some plays and give it a shot it's sort of good work so let's move on into what we're going to instead of going to needs we're going to end up with needs because let's some of those were already discussed but let's go ahead and hit up what are potential tradeoffs or conflicts thank you because it's sort of now we can end on a high note so potential tradeoffs or conflicts now I'm not exactly sure I understand this question can you speak for that? yeah so one thing I've noticed is that people love the idea of creating something new but I feel like that's not always necessary I think it's important to think about what already exists and to build on top of it or to join like should we start something new and to have a new name a new organization a new institution or whatever or can we put that sort of ego aside and join something existent and build on top of something that already exists I was just like in another editorial note Bill and Dougie I hope that in this critical thinking session that we're having that instead of engaging in rhetorical potentially critical ideas that we're a little bit familiar with the specific thing that we're talking about and that we share what we actually think is going to be a problem as opposed to trying to come up with not that you were just doing that or anybody else was just doing that but like let's talk about the things that we actually can taste and see right in front of us right go ahead yeah what you brought up seems to be like the major concern like me coming into this space I don't know what's been going on not from out here but I think to me that's like the primary concern that's been raised in my book is just like how are people that's engaging in agroecology already being like why aren't they here you know was that a result of negligence was that a result of intention and particularly indigenous communities you know like agroecology in La Vie Comprisina is so tied to that it's like a pivotal aspect so that's to me like a trade off or a conflict that cannot be ignored in building an agroecology space and I think a lot of us agree I think that we need a little bit of context about what's going on in North America with La Vie Comprisina right now like there's supposed to be a political committee that organized and that lead the movement and right now it's not working for almost two years and probably more than that like there are no leadership right now except of the youth articulation and women articulation and some different space of discussion so we in the North American region they have not been so I'm sorry I just got the signal and we're not going to even have time to have our fourth question at all and as someone who's going to keep on working on this really hard I really want to know what you guys think we need to get started with La Vie Comprisina given that we were going to start on so I would especially like to hear from folks who have been involved in trying to stand up this kind of thing and folks of color or folks who feel like they represent a less available voice in this kind of conversation so please take it if you feel it what do we need for an agro-college school in Vermont thank you Jasmine well that's something I was heading for back wait a second we've just opened up a space for less for voices of people we have less access to be able to hear from you so I just want to I want to try to keep that going I want to uplift La Canisette and reiterate what needs to happen specifically reaching out to indigenous in this area that have been doing the work of agro-college some of us came here to assert that we'd love to talk with folks in the organizing to form those connections to avoid that conflict which is here already and have a good conversation also to lift up what you said earlier about the regional the regional aspect of that I think particularly here that's so important and with the indigenous relationships regional aspect I see organizational conflicts as being an issue we have a lot more organizations in the state of Vermont working on all the issues than probably any other state and I worry about the egos of these organizations being a conflict for a grassroots movement can you turn that into a need build the social mycelium without it's very connected to the last two you know I think speed and transparency and transparency of process and intentional invitation connection would be a next step and maybe a restorative justice process or something is a step that could be taken can I suggest a livable basic income for the leadership and not ask for more extractiveness in a capitalist economy thank you keep it coming this is great regular interaction with groups like SAFON that are working with black farmers because Vermont is one of the fightest states and we really need to be reaching out to people of color working with them closely I agree with that and I also want to add that we don't need to look so far afield there are yes Vermont super white and north east and general super white and there are black farmers and there are indigenous farmers and there are migrant farmers and there are groups like NEFAC of course who are right here and the SUSU who are working with black farmers but I do think it would be important to have a network with other groups of color I think that the Christianity that don't make land available and affordable so yeah I echo that using the connections here to leverage and get land back and reparations for people that could be a valuable space for our agro college and university to train people and then provide land so people can actually have ownership of that for people and for young people to learn how to work and to collaborate with every town on the Relation Network and that's all right with all those other places that is a nice specific community community I mean can I ask that yeah collaborate with and the and the and the and the every town and I'll just say that this isn't trying to write myself a blank check but never expect underhandedness when incompetence will do right nobody there's never been a discussion I've been privy to of anybody being excluded from shit and I've been to so many of these conferences where after all the planning happened then everybody comes with the good ideas but their hands are involved in implementing them right so this isn't an admonishment but we all know what this is like we could do this could have been such a comprehensive universal most amazing but most of us just came for dinner and that'll be me when I come to y'all's conferences with two suggestions so and I know you all know this just we're trying to make family together and it's a process yeah I try to make it obvious any other needs that y'all feel like I feel like there's like the land thing right we need we have to get engaged in more land and it's related to the land thing we need a very strong connection with policy now an agriculture school should not just be about practice and political consciousness raising it needs to be connected in with political process and how folks can actually implement some of these changes that need to be made like making land more affordable I wonder what it looks like in every land in this particular conversation Ted gives land just gives away land and how many people at this conversation right now can leave here and say I will give my land away whatever I feel like I can do and like so we just sorry if I'm just the camera does that we're a good old handboat I did give some land away it's true I would just like to follow up Molly's point I think we know we talk about agroecology and shit and very about policy one of the things so the only other time before I became a member of World Farm Up I ever worked with La Via Campesina we shut down Cancun for the World Trade Organization we had a major mobilization it was a huge educational moment for a lot of people and it had a lot of influence from policy globally because we beat the Doha Accords the globalization of the food policy in 125 member countries La Via is here telling us that they hope to return to grassroots organizing and direct action as a major mode of influence I think when we talk about policy and influencing society in a lot of these circles in the United States we're often talking about advocacy right but advocacy is not the sole orientation another thing that was said earlier was that what kind of work can you build on a lot of folks were saying that there's so much amazing work to build on and I am not aware that there is the base building proposal functioning anywhere in the United States is it the Democratic Socialists of America that are building the movement so just to remember like we don't even need this at all I would say god damn it yes if this is the movement entity or a movement entity that we all might be terrified it is then yes absolutely we do not have that we do not have even the minuscule movement entity that we had when I was coming up 20 years ago which was just barely really associated so I feel like that social movement identity and education movement is something that's really necessary and that's why we've invited folks like Megan and North East Kingdom organizing and folks from you know grassroots movements who wouldn't think oh agro-cology right but we really need to integrate that into our work because we have a defensive strategy instead of an offensive one and we need an offensive one sort of to the tune of what Colleen was talking about earlier I won't indulge myself any further I think we're about to get reassembled and where is our friend Cyrus he's going to report back he just raced off up the hill oh my god they infiltrated us there's so many more needs yeah we're going to rattle some off what was that? cross class leadership yeah building on that non-hierarchical mechanisms within that and like strategies and freedom and flexibility for people to have their own different niches within that it can't really just be one size fits all and on the policy piece I want to shift that language actually to strategic pinpointed systems change work and so it's like it's not advocacy in the policy world it's like strategic pinpointed change to enable the parallel systems that we're trying to create can you explain what can you explain what you mean by cross class leadership yeah so that it's not just like rich people right we're just poor people right well yeah we want that but like that's who usually starts these things is like someone who has a kind of relationship with that I think there's a lot of relationship building to do there too and cross class discussions a lot of and it's also telling people when things are done online that you can only contact if you already know the sustainability a concern I have and I don't know since we meet but I'm deeply concerned about the limited amount of black and brown people in our state that are doing leadership work already and on a maxed out and we need black and brown leadership in this space right so that's an issue one way that we hope to address that is the consulta process not convening folks to our table but going to theirs and we will be undertaking that format and we're excited to get invitations and we will be reaching out to Eastern women's we've I mean they're here and we didn't invite them yeah so we invited them we didn't invite them Kristen? Kristen's here but not officially we should talk a little bit cool yeah I mean I think you just like it made me dizzy the zoomification of the movement has really fucking hurt us my god thank you can I ask one more question since we've got it for a second so with the opinion of the student that this isn't an institution there's a lot of people who would not be here if we were talking about having a school but we're really trying to like pledge out a movement what would you imagine needing to be able to participate in a totally robust and committed way somebody said a little bit of a wage for the leadership you know I think that's a prosody I thought you said access to abortion but that idea it's not just like encouraging folks to come all the way up here but then showing up that's a big ask to show up to the thing contribute to the thing even consult on a thing then what is the agri-party school you know how is that showing up to the other things give and contribute to this important thing that reciprocity and we will show up to that there's a lot reciprocity and solidarity they're different things can you say more about that there's not solidarity is explicitly not but reciprocity is important too yeah yeah I'll just go back to land access specifically like a lot of projects is like yeah come on we'll teach you you can work here but there's no ownership and there's no state and that's what a lot of land workers we all experience so that shift in ownership is vital nobody gets to work in what they went to school for right so thinking about alliances and other people we need to be involved universal healthcare some of those folks are in and out of this space this weekend but yeah one thing that we didn't do this weekend that was on the list was to try to do a mapping project together and it just wasn't enough time to really try to understand who is doing the work and what are they doing and who knows them and what does they need to participate but you know we're just not even at the one-on-one in terms of the amount of stuff that we can cover with each other well that raises the question to me like do we want to do a network networking analysis project before we start talking about committing to a school like a school to me feels like we know what the outcome will be a school whereas like movement building and maybe it's helpful to have a tangible project that will work on but maybe it's like movement building feels like something else might come up as the idea instead of a school I know it might look different but so that's just like a question I feel like leading with the idea that if you have a school even if you say it's a decentralized school it's like the notion is already formed again I don't think anybody's proposing that this is the idea let's not imagine things to be any kind of mutually exclusive this is a really strong especially Latin American theory that you start the revolutionary network with education that's not this or that kind of education but this is just an empty vessel at this point right so maybe I'm just proposing a strategy for the network building that I'm hearing people say is so critical of saying we're doing agroecological movement building and we want you to be a part of it for me that might just bring people in I could be wrong about that I think hopefully it would bring people it would bring people in instead of turning them maybe a question needs to be what would it take to have you be a part of this yeah or what are you a part of already that feels like it is that sense of movement that we could support it I think those are really important I think to your point ideal ideal is one that how can we support the agroecological work that's happening not being like this is what agroecology is I'm going to do this which is not what I hear what the intention is that's how any kind of democratic institution should work this is a four how can we support things that you are introducing not like this is what it is I want to do this that's how I'm going to do it think about how you want to Sharers is back let's think about how our group would like to report that we have these notes are we just going to what will happen if we just report back just these notes like this is it will be integrated into a larger document with everybody else's and that will go before the political pedagogical coordination which is the agroecology school collective to decide which of these things will be integrated into the strategy, mission, action structure different elements so we can refine it more also if we wanted to we want to do a quick read through and we have time for that we're going to do a quick read through for all of us I guess the one thing I'm thinking is in terms of redundancy other groups share before us and they say similar things do we want to just kind of edit those out and provide new what we really want that's going to be really strong for the people who are processing information I'll actually make sure the team reminds folks of that y'all want to just wrap and get a breath let's just take a breath thanks so much I really appreciate it we appreciate it we appreciate it thanks so much I really appreciate those of you bringing the challenge and the what the fucks and those of you bringing the love and the we can do this also welcome and thanks for that I would also like to say I'm not sure but for me it might have been helpful to hear some of what you felt like or what y'all have been already working on that could help reform this process better than someone else the costume bosses they're in the kind of living rooms did you have a specific question well just as a note like in general we're all contributing and you have more information you've been working on so it would be helpful for me and for many of us to understand what you've been already working on what y'all have been doing doing more to answer that that was why Molly and Freddie gave the whole pitch that was supposed to be that dose of where did we start and we were going to write down the document that they drew that for everybody all these groups to look at what y'all's feedback on our document but some of us didn't we wanted to hear what you had to say or some of us did so that's what we did like that but yeah we're still just really open we're still just like we think that there's a lot of great stuff that we could support each other to do education around and having this connection with La Via folks from way outside of Vermont to come and be some of the educators is a wild fucking opportunity and largely because of what Kat was just bringing up about like this white state there's a lot the folks of color leaders that I know are having their doors banged down and are used as excuses to not do all kinds of work because we want each of our groups to be catered to by them and we want everybody we want a custom version of the leadership for each of our little conversations listening a little harder and doing what we're being asked so that's the other side of the coin I mean that there's actually like a really really funny really half a million people in the state of Vermont and there's only so many of those that are active on and so many of those that are people of color leaders and so many of those who have any time for fuck all else besides what they're already holding down every single white group gets radicalized last week by George Floyd and says we're not allowed to do anything ever again without black and brown people coming and sitting and holding our hands and nothing's ever going to happen and they're going to burn those black and brown leaders out ever faster because a lot of that responsibility will get internalized I don't want to talk about this in front of some of my friends because it's like the hair is going to catch on fire so yeah anyway, self familiar hello before you somebody over here let's say that like the document that was drafted before from Vermont and from international allies encompasses some of the stuff that was discussed here but I think it was very enriched especially with the second question the challenge and I'll bring some things like there's the way that normally these schools run there's like this political and pedagogical coordination which is just like the coordination team in order for it to to be successful it needs to be representative of the people on the ground so that thing that like we don't need to look so far away like the northeastern region that's like the the essence and then there's this international group or committee that can help with experiences, curriculum but not recipes like let's talk about context but it is crucial for it to be representative of and that will take the time that it needs to take include like BIPOC folks so yeah and I think maybe we can once all of this is into that document it can be shared with the participants that are interested by email or whatever yeah I mean there are some of our oldest dearest friends who are farming who have been invited to this ship for months are not here they just can't be here I think not again to make excuses but you should really look at this gathering as ad hoc as fuck right we're really hoping to get to work with this winter and put together some opportunities to bring this process to a place where there's already going to be a bunch of farmers to get that feedback because they ain't making here on July 22nd they're not fucking coming you know and not in these parts let's summer gathering yeah yeah but I mean in the summer gathering the food is cheap and plentiful and we can hang it outside we don't have the money to rent out the institution where we can have the dorm to negotiate right we're in the yard so this is a step it's not the first step it's not the step it's just a step we're taking and the school itself should be seen as the same it's an effort and if it resonates with people and there's alignment it'll be more robust and if it's less robust that's appropriate too and it'll be part of supporting the work that's going on right so ready let's get a good break at least hi everybody I would like to ask you if you're willing to raise one of your pointer fingers like this and you can wave it around in a circle like this keep going okay knock knock yeah so here we are in a tent in the field and we're about to hear back from all of you I don't know if you guys you folks came up with like specific kinds of processes that you would like to report back in who from who's going to take notes as we hear from this very first step in a long consultation process with our communities you're going to take the notes yes thank you okay and does someone feel like they are called to come before us and present us with what they'd like to share first what would be needed for an agro-ecology school in Vermont we pulled out sort of two large ideas one is infrastructure both physical location a budget, a staff, a curriculum and the other main point was support holistic support for the students of the school both inside the school and outside the school which would rest on a foundation of strong relationships the end wow are we doing a whole group at a time we were told that we divided our group into one person per sheet and we're just going to take a couple seconds per sheet to summarize versus read everything great let's go with this we're just going to do needs all the way through I'm just going to be a little faster if we do everything so with the rest of the people in your group please join you and we can go through each section okay you were right we're just going to do needs first this is your document thank you yeah oh yeah yes thank you yes, step up and step lively so is there a needs presentation for them can we sorry, time what is what are we doing what do we do just a question for each group and each question and we continue like this we want to give everyone a break we know that you've been sitting and doing this work for a long time I think it's going to get a little bit more condensed but we also we work that in a way that we think we can fill everything that we wanted to if you want so if we could I don't know with time, these are sneaky we can post them up and have people look at them at their leisure as well okay what do we think about just as the group models we got needs from one group we're going to get challenges from another group opportunities for another group and potential conflicts and tradeoffs from yet another group but everything will be recorded for our process for sure and everything will be posted in the barn for everyone to benefit from each other's feedback does that work for folks okay, sorry for the abbreviated process and thank you so much Elle, are you next is that what you have to start with the same group next group let's hear let's hear the challenges or what was the thing why to not do it in Vermont from this group at the picnic table bring your why not thank you let's go Sharon so some of the ideas was one of the big ones that came out is Vermont is 98% white so that was a big one having access thinking about role models or leadership in the community if we're trying to bring BIPOC youth BIPOC students to Vermont it could be difficult to feel safe or supported here if there isn't that kind of community leadership there were folks sharing from who are in the Agriculture Program at UVM it's a very similar extension there in Burlington white folks in discussion on race and gender thinking about migration that it can't only be in Vermont it needs to be moving Vermont can be isolating so that was another one that came up for us language barrier thinking about our international comrades who might want to do an exchange at the school in Vermont is that possible does it make sense Vermont is very liberal so this was on both good and bad it can be bad in the sense that it could be co-opted the school, the movement the grant of co-optation also another big one for this space is inaccessibility in terms of physically getting here there's no public transportation it's off the dirt road so again some of these things live in the good and bad part of it yeah it seems like there wasn't a whole lot of context for some of the participants so I think that was some of that on us as the organizers so giving context for what the process has been why is it here those kinds of ideas and I think that was mostly it from our group is there anyone else from our group that wanted to add anything there's a lot more reasons why not what else not blocking right that indigenous people leading came up in our group too yeah so thinking about the indigenous people in the community came up I think that was go ahead Martha I was going to say one of the observations was how they should be anywhere that could be something like everywhere yeah yeah go on the same page about that cool let's hear about the conflicts and trade-offs from any group who wants to present their conflicts and trade-offs come on conflicts trade-offs I don't know I can't see which groups or which is there someone over here who hasn't presented yet is there a group y'all did present everybody did is there a group over here it's hard to tell okay I want to do that one last somebody give me their conflicts and trade-offs us yes that's a great idea Cyrus we only had two games we didn't really go over there oh verses oh good we skipped it I think that one thing that came up for us in terms of a trade-off is that like towards the end there was a discussion a little bit around that because of the demographics of this county this area being primarily white there is that trade-off however it also is operating as a regional space that's going to function to help serve the community that is living here so I think that was one trade-off that we did touch on towards the end you got any other one yeah I mean there's also this kind of that discussion about how like is this the place to start is there a process about if we're going to consult people about the school which we will why don't we just start about like well what is it that we should do and you know there was an effective answers to that question of the school being a more empty vessel than you know maybe more of a movement entity but yeah that maybe we're trading off the opportunity to do other things if we go with us school but then again nothing is mutually exclusive yeah I think that's another thing is that like asking the question of like is it exclusive like if there is an agroecology school here does that exclude other communities and trying to understand what that trade-off exists if that exists or not hopefully the rising tide lifts all boats anybody else want to talk to conflicts and trade-offs for a second we had a much more robust why not to do the school here okay Tammy tell us how it is okay good agroecology tradition and a favorable school deployment I don't know what that is also there's more freedom here that versus some other places there's a culture of engaged community talking about people taking seriously local insurance or maybe doing that kind of thing the arable resources or the things we need to grow and support as well as on the one coast the U.S. capability across that was a good asset the timing the timing might be really good considering the crisis that are going on considering some of the transitions from the other sectors I think that's been mentioned before also there's a need the need in North America we need to replace the knowledge that we need the technical and political training if it does not exist there and then finally so far it's been a healthy start it's been a process that's been rooted in the movement and to the province and there's an existing relationship and thank you it's going to go out on a limb and see if anybody from the agroecology school collective would like to wrap up this session and talk about what's going to happen next so you could respond a little bit and or just take us home now you're going to do it oh good well Freddie do you want to say anything to this group no well then okay and I just want to the reason I called on Freddie is because Freddie actually framed the first huge block of categories of questions before the agroecology school collective and has been our guide and mentor through the process amongst many and I just really have appreciated the process a great deal thank you Molly thank you so much everybody I would like to comment on some general things first I would like to thank the group that was here with Sammy and John that were there and I heard some concerns that I think are common in most groups and with my interpreter who was supporting me we also made dialogues between the interpretation and one of the dialogues we did is that we felt like there were too many concerns in the agroecology school we felt that there was too much pressure also and in my land they say that the pure brings tiredness you have to be slow but sure and when we hear that that there are many but we say as we see too many people and it's normal and Henry or Molly said we want you to support us because we don't have much idea of where but if it is necessary then I think the arguments of the groups justify that if it is necessary a school now why Vermont that was also a recurring question in our group and they said here the cycles of December are too short because there is too much cold and snow the rest of the year and we reflected with Cristina but here in these lands like in other places people have lived for millennia a long time before and they cultivated the land and they survived even more complicated and you have to think about other things but without cell phones without computers these people who were here cultivated the land and lived for millennia we now think we could do the same it's not the ability the capacity of humanity then nothing to tell them why Vermont and why not in other places the possibilities and the invitation is Vermont called us to think about this school but the idea is not that it is only a school in Vermont but that it is a school network in the United States like in Latin America we already have a network of yachts and we want that in each country and in each country in several regions of those countries there are yachts our schools we want that in the United States if Vermont called us today that later in Florida Mississippi in each state there are schools but that those schools are seen from the front and join and discuss and learn and retroaliment between them that is the invitation of this space so meanwhile we hope that the school in Vermont starts in three weeks in three months tomorrow yesterday yes feedback and we'll be sharing it with you and this will be an open door for continued conversation so we have all of your contact information you have my e-mail you have e-mails for some of the organizers and we can share more of that information if you're comfortable with it and this is the beginning so we're going to need you to help us determine and I think partly we already did and so this open door of communication will continue and I know everyone needs a break and so we've got a lot of fun things planned tomorrow please keep having these conversations come talk to us come share your questions and concerns and the things that came up with your group we just want to hear this is why we're all here we're here to celebrate but we're also here to learn so before I turn everybody loose before we convene for our last workshop of the day in how about we'll do it at five o'clock we'll stick with our schedule