50 Years That Changed it all: Food, Farming and Community

Dr. John Ikerd

VALLEY CITY, N.D. (NewsDakota.com) – Dr. John Ikerd will share his perspectives on food, farming and community as part of the Barnes County Historical Society’s 150 birthday celebration for the county.

A nationally and internationally known writer and speaker, he will be at the Valley City Eagles Club on Thursday, June 13 at 7:30. Dr Ikerd is an emeritus professor at the University of Missouri who grew up as a dairy farm kid in Missouri, worked for the 3rd largest meatpacking company in America, then earned a PhD in agricultural economics at the University of Missouri.

For years as a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, North Carolina State and then University of Georgia, he taught what he learned-“ go big or go home” and “farming is a business, not a way of life.” In Georgia as an extension livestock marketing specialist, he helped start the hog industry but, then, also witnessed the 1980’s farm crisis. His saw firsthand how hard this philosophy was on the land, rural communities and farmers who lost their land and sometimes their lives in the period of collapsing prices and credit over extension. Since then he has traveled extensively to speak with and listen to producers, policy makers and consumers in support of sustainable agriculture, local food networks and independent farmers. He wrote the 2014 UN report on Family Farms in North America, has written 6 books, numerous journal articles, and publishes an online blog.

The full interview with Dr. John Ikerd is available right here.

The talk is free, open to the public and will be on Zoom. For Zoom link, contact Sam@drcinfo.com This talk is co-sponsored by the Dakota Resource Council and private donors.