A plea, as both a farmer and a consumer, to consumers regarding the current opportunity to change agriculture
I grew up on a small farm in upstate New York. We had very little money. My father was a carpenter, and my uncle raised dairy calves. They were married to twin sisters, my mother and my aunt, who were highly committed to whole foods without additives. My aunt worked at the local co-op, so we received discounts there, and my mother worked for a local organic bakery. We had a large garden, a root cellar, and an apple orchard. Although we didn’t have much money, we always had access to high-quality, nutrient-dense food.
Decades later, my mother and aunt moved to Hawaii, living a small regenerative farm where they grew their own food and bamboo for sale. My father and I both entered the restaurant industry. He started the infamous Café Gratitude and Gracias Madre, while I launched Sage Vegan Bistro, which later became Sage Regenerative Kitchen as my views on food evolved.
I’ve spent my entire life, aside from a short stint in the music industry, involved in farming and food production. Initially, the organic food movement seemed to be an old-school liberal movement, concentrated in large blue cities where you could find the best health-food stores and organic options. The consumer has been driving this market, largely from those urban centers.
However, during COVID, a transformation occurred. Many factors contributed to this change: the divide over vaccines, the pharmaceutical companies, the lack of accountability regarding the mRNA technology that was widely distributed, lockdown policies, and the near silence of mainstream media surrounding lifestyle and diet during the pandemic.
In this titanic shift, millions of formerly liberal, Tesla-driving, Lululemon-wearing yoga moms realized that the Democratic Party of the COVID era had nothing for them. A new class of social media influencers emerged, joining the ranks of the traditional wives and homesteaders, merging conservative values with the organic food movement.
Living now in a deep-red county in central Texas, I witness the real-life results of this change. People who had been chronically ill, often without anyone suggesting dietary changes, are now inspired to alter their consumption for longevity and health.
This presents a massive opportunity: consumers drive capitalism in a true free market. With RFK as the newly appointed head of HHS and the expansion of consumers who care about what’s in their food, we are witnessing the rebirth of the traditional wife, the homesteader, and the “Mama Bears” from both sides of the aisle. All are saying, “Enough is enough — stop poisoning us!”
This coalition has the power to create real change. Farmers want to do the right thing, but they fear losing their generational farms. There needs to be security in transitioning to better practices, and consumers can provide that security. We vote with our dollars every time we shop. We must stop trading our resilience for convenience. We must buy local, even if it requires a little more effort or money.
Farmers like me cannot grow high-quality, nutrient-dense food without a customer base that prioritizes this. Consumers are the most powerful part of this system. While it’s easy to complain about the system, we must remember that there are more of us than there are of them. If we change our behavior, the system will adapt alongside us.
We, the people — liberals, conservatives, mothers, fathers, those recovering from chronic illness, young and healthy individuals wanting to stay that way, the newly awakened, and those who have been in this fight forever — we are the coalition to move the world toward regenerative agriculture, soil-grown food, and food without chemicals.
But this is a great responsibility. It means forgoing the ease of ordering something on Instacart or Amazon and instead driving to the farmers market or your local farm. It means putting in the effort to buy raw milk or a meat box from a regenerative farmer, even if it’s an hour away.
That is my call to action. That is my request. We, the consumers, must provide farmers with a soft landing to make the changes we want.
Mollie Engelhart is an entrepreneur, chef, farmer and advocate for regenerative agriculture. Learn more about her at sovereigntyranch.com.
