Top Farming and Agroecology Videos
Raj Patel | “The Long Green Revolution”
January 31st, 2017 Everything we understand today about the food system, from its influence on wage work to the nation-state, has its origins in the 15th century. By looking at these origins, the politics of feeding the world in the last century, and 21st century ways of re-imagining them, it becomes easier to see how food’s impact on the social fabric of everyday life too often remains hidden.
Monica White | “Freedom Farmers: Black Agricultural Cooperatives and Building Sustainable Communities”
March 21, 2017 Monica White examines the work of Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers of the late 1960s who fought for the right to participate in the food system as producers and to earn a living wage in the face of racially, socially, and politically repressive conditions.
All Farming and Agroecology Videos
- Fast Food for Thought 2026
Talk Description: Join Food Literacy for All’s 10th annual “Fast Food for Thought,” where 10 interdisciplinary UM faculty and staff gave 5-minute talks related to food and agriculture. This event was livestreamed as a Zoom Webinar and held in person… Read more: Fast Food for Thought 2026 - Kristina Villa and Ian McSweeney: The Farmers Land Trust and the Farmland Commons
Talk Description: Hear about the history and work of The Farmers Land Trust, a national organization working to support farmland protection, transition, and secure access for farmers through the innovative Farmland Commons model, which decommodifies land by placing it in… Read more: Kristina Villa and Ian McSweeney: The Farmers Land Trust and the Farmland Commons - Pedro Ferraracio Charbel on Solidarity Kitchens in Brazil: Fighting Hunger and Building Change
Talk Description: The talk provides a general overview of the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), the biggest urban social movement in Brazil, and its revolutionary Solidarity Kitchens. Within a broader analysis of Brazil’s political and social context, we explore how, besides… Read more: Pedro Ferraracio Charbel on Solidarity Kitchens in Brazil: Fighting Hunger and Building Change - Book Talk: Life and Death of the American Worker by Alice Driver
Session Description: Alice Driver is a James Beard Award-winning investigative journalist from the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. She is the author of Life and Death of the American Worker: The Immigrants Taking on America’s Largest Meatpacking Company (One Signal Publishers,… Read more: Book Talk: Life and Death of the American Worker by Alice Driver - Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe on The Foundation of Food: The Science and Politics of Our Changing Soils
Session Description: Climate change and food security are connected in many ways, and both are underlain by soil. Close to 1 billion people globally lack food and nutritional security, and the soil resources needed to produce food are being degraded… Read more: Dr. Asmeret Asefaw Berhe on The Foundation of Food: The Science and Politics of Our Changing Soils - Panel of City-Level Urban Agriculture Directors
This panel brings together urban agriculture and food policy leaders from Michigan, Connecticut, and Texas to explore how cities are shaping the future of equitable food systems. Panelists will share how their positions within municipal government influence land access, zoning,… Read more: Panel of City-Level Urban Agriculture Directors - Anthony Flaccavento: “To Build a Healthy Farm and Food System, We Must Overcome the Rural-Urban Divide”
On Tuesday, February 24, 2026, Anthony Flaccavento joined Food Literacy for All for a powerful presentation titled “To Build a Healthy Farm and Food System, We Must Overcome the Rural-Urban Divide.” A farmer and rural development consultant from Appalachia, Flaccavento… Read more: Anthony Flaccavento: “To Build a Healthy Farm and Food System, We Must Overcome the Rural-Urban Divide” - Dr. Michael Classens & Panel of U-M Students on “Imagining New Possibilities: Perspectives on Student Food Sovereignty”
Historically and internationally, students and youth have been at the forefront of advocacy, progress, and movements. By centering student voices and ideas, this session explore sreal-world examples of students envisioning and driving action for food systems transformation. We talk about… Read more: Dr. Michael Classens & Panel of U-M Students on “Imagining New Possibilities: Perspectives on Student Food Sovereignty” - Fast Food for Thought 2024 Videos
2024 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 April 16th, 2024 10th annual Fast Food for Thought. Speakers include: Speaker Affiliation Talk Title Resources Benjamin Goldstein SEAS, Sustainable… Read more: Fast Food for Thought 2024 Videos - Blain Snipstal | “Agroecology for the people, for life and Forever!”
April 9th, 2024 In this Food Literacy for All session, Blain Snipstal discussed “Agroecology for the people, for life and Forever!” Register to attend future Food Literacy 2024 sessions here: https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_diO8D1vIQVezN_hKY3FBhw#/registration - Jahi Chappell | “Beginning to End Hunger: Lessons from Belo Horizonte Brazil”
March 19th, 2024 In this Food Literacy for All session, Jahi Chappell discussed “Beginning to End Hunger: Lessons from Belo Horizonte Brazil.” Register to attend future Food Literacy 2024 sessions here: https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_diO8D1vIQVezN_hKY3FBhw#/registration - Clarenda “Farmer Cee” Stanley | “Heritage Farming”
February 20th, 2024 In this Food Literacy for All session, Farmer Cee discussed “Heritage Farming.” Register to attend future Food Literacy 2024 sessions here: https://umich.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_diO8D1vIQVezN_hKY3FBhw#/registration - Jennifer Blesh | “Rethinking Soil Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture”
March 14th, 2023 Fast Food for Thought is an annual event where a group of interdisciplinary UM SFSI faculty and staff affiliates give a series of 5 minute talks related to food and/or agriculture. Register to attend future Food Literacy… Read more: Jennifer Blesh | “Rethinking Soil Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture” - Aleya Fraser | “Food Sovereignty and Chocolate“
March 7th, 2023 In this Food Literacy for All session, Aleya Fraser discussed “Food Sovereignty and Chocolate.” Talk Description: We will analyze the 2007 Nyéléni declaration on Food Sovereignty which places the farmer at the “heart of food systems and… Read more: Aleya Fraser | “<em>Food Sovereignty and Chocolate</em>“ - Sarah Mills at Fast Food for Thought | “Here Come the 1200 Acre Solar Farms. Should We Celebrate or Worry?”
Sarah Mills (Ford School) gives a tiny talk titled “Here Come the 1200 Acre Solar Farms. Should We Celebrate or Worry?” at Fast Food for Thought at the University of Michigan on April 12th, 2022. Introduction by Winona Bynum, Detroit… Read more: Sarah Mills at Fast Food for Thought | “Here Come the 1200 Acre Solar Farms. Should We Celebrate or Worry?” - David Michener at Fast Food for Thought | “Rematritaing Seeds – Tribal Sovereignty is Fundamental in Renewing Foodways”
David Michener (Matthaei Botanical Gardens and Nichols Arboretum) gives a tiny talk titled “Rematritaing Seeds – Tribal Sovereignty is Fundamental in Renewing Foodways” at Fast Food for Thought at the University of Michigan on April 12th, 2022. Introduction by Lilly… Read more: David Michener at Fast Food for Thought | “Rematritaing Seeds – Tribal Sovereignty is Fundamental in Renewing Foodways” - Derek Van Berkel at Fast Food for Thought | “Why Trees are so Important for Urban Agriculture in Frontline Communities”
Derek Van Berkel (School for Environment and Sustainability) gives a tiny talk titled “Why Trees are so Important for Urban Agriculture in Frontline Communities” at Fast Food for Thought at the University of Michigan on April 12th, 2022. Introduction by… Read more: Derek Van Berkel at Fast Food for Thought | “Why Trees are so Important for Urban Agriculture in Frontline Communities” - Marcus Coleman and Angela Chalk | “Beginning Farmers, Environment, and Feeding Community”
February 8th, 2022 In this Food Literacy for All session, Dr. Marcus Coleman and Angela Chalk discuss “Beginning Farmers, Environment, and Feeding Community”. Angela Chalk is the Executive Director of Healthy Community Services in New Orleans, an organization that helps… Read more: Marcus Coleman and Angela Chalk | “Beginning Farmers, Environment, and Feeding Community” - John Vandermeer | Lecture 1 “What Is Agroecology?”
This is the first of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 2 “Food Acquisition”
This is the second of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 3 “Food Regimes”
This is the third of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 4 “Photosynthesis and other things”
This is the fourth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 5 “Plant Nutrition”
This is the fifth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 6 “Pests and Management”
This is the sixth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 7 “Pathogens and Management”
This is the seventh of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 8 “Soil Basics”
This is the eighth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 9 “Soil Colloids, SOM, Biology”
This is the ninth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 11 “Political action, Chayanovian dynamics”
This is the eleventh of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - John Vandermeer | Lecture 10 “Complex Systems 2”
This is the tenth of a series of lectures by Prof. John Vandermeer, Univeristy of Michigan, on Agroecology. - Ashley Atkinson, Naim Edwards, Michelle Martinez | “The Hidden Plight of Modern Growers”
February 25, 2020 Detroit growers Ashley Atkinson and Naim Edwards and environmental justice advocate Michelle Martinez discussed how climate change directly impacts urban agriculture and environmental issues in Detroit. - Tiny Talk by Brendan O’Neil | “What do Soil Microbes have to do with Sustainable Food?”
Brendan O’Neill (School for Environment and Sustainability) gives a tiny talk titled “What do Soil Microbes have to do with Sustainable Food?” at the 6th annual Fast Food for Thought at the University of Michigan on October 1, 2019. Introduction… Read more: Tiny Talk by Brendan O’Neil | “What do Soil Microbes have to do with Sustainable Food?” - Paul Greenberg | “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food”
April 23, 2019 100 years ago, nearly everything we ate from the sea was wild. Today more than half of our seafood is coming from farms. This epochal shift is something we haven’t seen since humans first turned from hunter/gathering… Read more: Paul Greenberg | “Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food” - Anna Lappé | “Island Earth: Chemicals, Climate, and the Future of Eating”
March 12, 2019 In this engaging talk, author and activist Anna Lappé takes us down history lane, from the origins of our chemically dependent, petroleum-addicted agricultural system to the corporate conglomerates who dominate that system today. Lappé traces the many… Read more: Anna Lappé | “Island Earth: Chemicals, Climate, and the Future of Eating” - Panel Discussion | “The Politics, Ecology, and Future of Seeds”
February 5, 2019 Eric Kampe, Krista Isaacs, Antonio Rafael What is the significance of seeds in our food system? Who owns our seeds and why does it matter? What are GMOs and how does gene editing technology relate to issues… Read more: Panel Discussion | “The Politics, Ecology, and Future of Seeds” - Fernando Funes Monzote | “The Metaphor of the Well: Dilemmas for Sustainable Agriculture”
March 6, 2018 While digging a well by hand for seven months a metaphor emerged —both for agriculture and for life in general. The grueling process of breaking up rocks in the search for water in the most precarious conditions… Read more: Fernando Funes Monzote | “The Metaphor of the Well: Dilemmas for Sustainable Agriculture” - Panel Discussion | Local, Small Scale Farmers
January 30, 2018 In this panel session, Melvin Parsons, Stefanie Stauffer, Greg Willerer, and Olivia Hubert share their perspectives and experience with food production in Southeastern Michigan. - Josh Slotnick | “Cheap Food Nation and the Countervailing Force of Community Agriculture”
January 23, 2018 This presentation will combine an interactive dive into our food system with a discussion of Community Agriculture. Our interaction will distill out the values inherent in our food system, then I will describe Community Agriculture as the… Read more: Josh Slotnick | “Cheap Food Nation and the Countervailing Force of Community Agriculture” - “Afterhouse Afterthoughts” Tiny Talk by Steven Mankouche
Steven Mankouche (Architecture) gave a talk titled “Afterhouse Afterthoughts: Learning from Transforming the Foundations of a Derelict Home into a Semi-subterranean Passive Solar Greenhouse” at the 4th Annual Fast Food for Thought. Introduction by Lesli Hoey, Urban and Regional Planning - Monica White | “Freedom Farmers: Black Agricultural Cooperatives and Building Sustainable Communities”
March 21, 2017 Monica White examines the work of Black sharecroppers and tenant farmers of the late 1960s who fought for the right to participate in the food system as producers and to earn a living wage in the face… Read more: Monica White | “Freedom Farmers: Black Agricultural Cooperatives and Building Sustainable Communities” - Tim Crews | “Can a sustainable food system be economically viable and equitable and ecologically sound?”
“Can a sustainable food system be economically viable and equitable and ecologically sound?” Indigenous cultures around the world offer glimpses into how farming practices and local economies can operate within ecological constraints of particular regions. Dr. Crews will begin by… Read more: Tim Crews | “Can a sustainable food system be economically viable and equitable and ecologically sound?” - Thaddeus Barsotti | “Building An Economically Sustainable Local Food System”
Over the past fifteen years my brothers and I grew our organic fresh vegetable farm from eighty to over eight hundred acres. Our CSA grew from delivering five hundred boxes per week to our customer’s home to delivering tens of… Read more: Thaddeus Barsotti | “Building An Economically Sustainable Local Food System” - Frances Moore Lappé | “Beyond Hunger: Toward Food”
“Beyond Hunger: Toward Food Democracy” Lappe begins exploring “thought traps” that block the pathway to solutions for so many: Primary is the false diagnosis that hunger results from scarcity that has kept the global focus fixed on production, using an… Read more: Frances Moore Lappé | “Beyond Hunger: Toward Food” - “Farmer as Career Choice in the 3rd Millennium” Tiny Talk by Jeremy Moghtader
Jeremy Moghtader (Campus Farm Manager) discusses farming as a career in his talk, “Farmer as Career Choice in the 3rd Millennium” at the 3rd Annual Fast Food for Thought. Introduction by Jennifer Blesh, School of Natural Resources and Environment - “Homesteading as Creative Practice” Tiny Talk by Joe Trumpey
Joe Trumpey (Stamps School of Art and Design) discuss the intersection of art and farming in his talk,“Homesteading as Creative Practice” at the 2nd Annual Fast Food for Thought. Introduction by Lesli Hoey, Urban and Regional Planning - “Herbicide Resistance in Weedy Plants: Current Status and Future Prospect” Tiny Talk by Regina Baucom
Regina Baucom (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) discusses herbicide resistance in her tiny talk, “Herbicide Resistance in Weedy Plants: Current Status and Future Prospect at the 2nd Annual Fast Food for Thought. Introduction by Lee Taylor Penn, School of Public Policy - “Feeding the World with Sustainable Agriculture” Tiny Talk by Catherine Badgley
Catherine Badgley (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology) gives a tiny talk, “Feeding the world with Sustainable Agriculture” about feeding the world with sustainable agriculture at the 2nd Annual Fast Food for Thought. Introduction by Ivette Perfecto, School for Environment and Sustainability. - Jennifer Blesh | “The Ecology of Agrocoecology and the Agroecology of Food Sovereignty”
University of Michigan Food Sovereignty Conference: Local Struggles, Global Movement (May 28-29, 2015). Hosted by the University of Michigan Sustainable Food Systems Initiative http://sites.lsa.umich.edu/sustainabl…
