response based on interview
1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,840 [MUSIC PLAYING] 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:07,680 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:08,730 Hello and welcome. 4 00:00:08,730 --> 00:00:12,090 I'm delighted to introduce Professor Julie Guthman, who 5 00:00:12,090 --> 00:00:15,500 is not only one of the leading food scholars 6 00:00:15,500 --> 00:00:18,450 here but also worldwide. 7 00:00:18,450 --> 00:00:21,360 And we're just lucky to have her agree 8 00:00:21,360 --> 00:00:24,570 to speak with us about her important, critical work 9 00:00:24,570 --> 00:00:28,720 on food and agriculture over the past few decades. 10 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:30,460 Thank you so much for joining us today.
11 00:00:30,460 --> 00:00:33,210 It's very exciting to be hearing from you, 12 00:00:33,210 --> 00:00:34,950 and we're wondering if you can begin 13 00:00:34,950 --> 00:00:38,160 by telling us a little bit about your area of research. And, also, why do you care? 14 00:00:40,510 --> 00:00:42,700 Well, I came to academia as a third career. 15 00:00:42,700 --> 00:00:45,360 My first career I was a community organizer, 16 00:00:45,360 --> 00:00:47,970 and I worked a lot in the Central Valley of California. 17 00:00:47,970 --> 00:00:51,060 In my second career, I was a nonprofit financial manager. 18 00:00:51,060 --> 00:00:52,790 And then I went to graduate school 19 00:00:52,790 --> 00:00:59,760 in geography in the 1990s, not expecting to be an academic.
20 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,760 And making a very long story short, 21 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:07,350 I took a seminar with my graduate advisor 22 00:01:07,350 --> 00:01:09,096 on agro-food systems, and this was 23 00:01:09,096 --> 00:01:10,470 a time when there was a lot being 24 00:01:10,470 --> 00:01:15,610 written on changes in the food system and lots of big books. 25 00:01:15,610 --> 00:01:17,910 And as a part of our seminar, we were 26 00:01:17,910 --> 00:01:23,070 asked to follow some sort of global commodity. 27 00:01:23,070 --> 00:01:26,220 And this was a group project, and our group 28 00:01:26,220 --> 00:01:28,680 decided to not do a global commodity 29
00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:31,740 but to do organic salad mix in California. At the time, there was nothing written 30 00:01:34,410 --> 00:01:37,750 on the organic industry from a social science perspective. 31 00:01:37,750 --> 00:01:39,660 And so that became-- 32 00:01:39,660 --> 00:01:42,720 we had a great time in the class. 33 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:45,690 We published an article that's still cited today, 34 00:01:45,690 --> 00:01:48,930 and that became my dissertation topic. 35 00:01:48,930 --> 00:01:52,740 And really looking at how organic agriculture is layered onto the California landscape, 36 00:01:55,860 --> 00:01:57,660 and what are the kind of possibilities 37 00:01:57,660 --> 00:02:02,860 and contradictions of changing food systems through organics.
38 00:02:02,860 --> 00:02:07,020 So I was lucky to get a job here at UC 39 00:02:07,020 --> 00:02:11,670 in the local and global political economy of food. 40 00:02:11,670 --> 00:02:15,570 And it completely tied in with my other two careers 41 00:02:15,570 --> 00:02:19,350 because I work in community studies. 42 00:02:19,350 --> 00:02:21,780 And it drew on my organizing experience. 43 00:02:21,780 --> 00:02:23,730 It drew on my nonprofit financial experience 44 00:02:23,730 --> 00:02:26,520 because so many of our students work in the nonprofit sector. 45 00:02:26,520 --> 00:02:30,450 And, of course, it drew on my dissertation research. So since then if I were to characterize 46 00:02:35,580 --> 00:02:40,080 what my research has been
about in one or two sentences, 47 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:43,970 I would say it's thinking about how 48 00:02:43,970 --> 00:02:48,510 neoliberal-inflected capitalism and white privilege 49 00:02:48,510 --> 00:02:51,180 has shaped the conditions of possibility 50 00:02:51,180 --> 00:02:54,660 for transformation in food systems. 51 00:02:54,660 --> 00:02:58,060 And I care about that because I think 52 00:02:58,060 --> 00:03:03,090 that much of the organizing activity, much of the food 53 00:03:03,090 --> 00:03:08,850 movement activity these days, is about building 54 00:03:08,850 --> 00:03:12,900 better models of growing and distributing food 55 00:03:12,900 --> 00:03:18,240 but not really undermining the existing problems with the food
56 00:03:18,240 --> 00:03:21,810 system and therefore ignoring a lot of the social justice 57 00:03:21,810 --> 00:03:26,940 issues that underpin the way the food is produced 58 00:03:26,940 --> 00:03:28,740 and distributed. 59 00:03:28,740 --> 00:03:29,460 Great, thank you. 60 00:03:29,460 --> 00:03:32,100 I I'd like to actually ask you to directly address 61 00:03:32,100 --> 00:03:34,710 the students in this course and perhaps 62 00:03:34,710 --> 00:03:38,610 for those interested in studying issues of social justice 63 00:03:38,610 --> 00:03:40,090 and sustainability. 64 00:03:40,090 --> 00:03:42,480 What are some of the critical issues regarding 65 00:03:42,480 --> 00:03:44,370 food and agriculture
today that you would 66 00:03:44,370 --> 00:03:45,840 like for them to focus on? 67 00:03:45,840 --> 00:03:47,920 Sure, that's a great question. Well, for me, it's really important, 68 00:03:49,620 --> 00:03:51,460 and it really builds on my last question. 69 00:03:51,460 --> 00:03:54,480 It's really important to start thinking about not only building positive alternatives in the food system, which-- 70 00:03:57,360 --> 00:03:59,040 there are many. We have organic agriculture, we have CSA, 71 00:04:01,082 --> 00:04:02,790 we have farmers' markets, and they're all 72 00:04:02,790 --> 00:04:06,900 producing lovely food that benefits a few. 73 00:04:06,900 --> 00:04:11,510 And many of the people that are most hurt by the food system-- whether it's farm workers that are exposed
74 00:04:13,260 --> 00:04:16,310 to pesticides or farm workers and food workers who 75 00:04:16,310 --> 00:04:21,810 are very poorly paid, who work in marginal conditions, who are 76 00:04:21,810 --> 00:04:23,850 subject to sexual harassment-- 77 00:04:23,850 --> 00:04:30,210 or whether it's food-insecure consumers who cannot afford to buy the best of food. 78 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:36,510 Those folks are kind of being ignored in our existing food 79 00:04:36,510 --> 00:04:37,680 system work. 80 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:40,080 And so I would like to reverse that, 81 00:04:40,080 --> 00:04:43,010 and so those folks become most heard. 82 00:04:43,010 --> 00:04:45,120 And part of doing that is doing more 83
00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,320 than building alternatives. 84 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,880 It's also paying attention to ways in which we can undermine 85 00:04:50,880 --> 00:04:54,690 existing food systems through more oppositional movements, 86 00:04:54,690 --> 00:05:00,000 through policy work, through anti-pesticide activism, 87 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:04,960 through living-wage campaigns, through reforming 88 00:05:04,960 --> 00:05:06,290 our immigration policy-- 89 00:05:06,290 --> 00:05:08,740 which I know is a big challenge these days. 90 00:05:08,740 --> 00:05:12,610 But, boy, that's a really tough and important, important issue 91 00:05:12,610 --> 00:05:14,540 for justice in the food system. 92 00:05:14,540 --> 00:05:16,450 So I teach my students, and I'd like to encourage your
students, to really think 93 00:05:18,700 --> 00:05:23,680 about doing the harder work but really the more important work. 94 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:25,010 Great, thank you so much. 95 00:05:25,010 --> 00:05:27,820 So one of the things that the Right Livelihood 96 00:05:27,820 --> 00:05:30,640 College is trying to do 97 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,930 is to connect students with the work of laureates 98 00:05:34,930 --> 00:05:36,430 they're doing worldwide. 99 00:05:36,430 --> 00:05:38,410 So what do you imagine would be possible 100 00:05:38,410 --> 00:05:40,950 if students and faculty such as yourself were to connect with Right Livelihood laureates-- 101 00:05:43,690 --> 00:05:45,970 what were some of the things that you'd like
102 00:05:45,970 --> 00:05:48,280 to see in those connections? I'm just going to draw on some of my more recent research 103 00:05:51,610 --> 00:05:54,170 on this California strawberry industry. 104 00:05:54,170 --> 00:05:55,780 And it's a huge research project. But what brought me to that research 105 00:05:57,790 --> 00:06:04,120 is this campaign to get rid of methyl iodide, a highly 106 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:08,830 toxic chemical that was designed to replace methyl 107 00:06:08,830 --> 00:06:10,510 bromide as a soil fumigant. 108 00:06:10,510 --> 00:06:12,580 There's a long story there that I won't get into. 109 00:06:12,580 --> 00:06:19,030 And the food movement joined with anti-pesticide activists 110 00:06:19,030 --> 00:06:21,760 and labor activists and environmental activists
111 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:25,390 and public health folks and mounted a huge campaign 112 00:06:25,390 --> 00:06:29,440 against methyl iodide that, by a lot of circumstances, 113 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:32,020 a lot of luck, and a lot of contingency but good strategy 114 00:06:32,020 --> 00:06:34,420 actually brought push-back on it. 115 00:06:34,420 --> 00:06:38,230 And that chemical is no longer on the market. 116 00:06:38,230 --> 00:06:40,840 To me, it's a hugely important lesson of what can happen if different groups get together, 117 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:49,930 target something quite specific, think strategically, and go up 118 00:06:49,930 --> 00:06:54,580 against, really, one of the biggest agricultural chemical 119 00:06:54,580 --> 00:06:55,850 companies in the world.
120 00:06:55,850 --> 00:06:56,920 And they won. 121 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:58,864 To me, that's a model, and that's what we should be thinking about-- 122 00:07:00,280 --> 00:07:04,210 is winnable fights where we think strategically. 123 00:07:04,210 --> 00:07:07,430 And I think that's the direction to go. 124 00:07:07,430 --> 00:07:10,240 So I want to congratulate you on not only being 125 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:14,020 a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship 126 00:07:14,020 --> 00:07:16,780 but also being recently named a fellow at the Radcliffe 127 00:07:16,780 --> 00:07:19,030 Institute, and this is exciting. 128 00:07:19,030 --> 00:07:20,740 So just wondered if you could share
129 00:07:20,740 --> 00:07:22,960 a little bit with the students what your plans are in the forthcoming years. 130 00:07:24,070 --> 00:07:24,570 Sure. 131 00:07:24,570 --> 00:07:27,340 Well, I'm very honored to get this award. 132 00:07:27,340 --> 00:07:29,980 Both awards-- they're really extraordinary, 133 00:07:29,980 --> 00:07:31,600 and I feel very lucky. 134 00:07:31,600 --> 00:07:34,030 So I've been doing research on the strawberry industry for the past four years, and it's mainly 135 00:07:35,950 --> 00:07:39,610 been on the regulatory politics of the chemicals used 136 00:07:39,610 --> 00:07:42,160 in strawberry production, mainly the soil fumigants. 137 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,190 And I'm finishing that up, and I'm
138 00:07:45,190 --> 00:07:47,020 moving toward writing a book that's quite 139 00:07:47,020 --> 00:07:48,280 different than that research. 140 00:07:48,280 --> 00:07:49,860 And it's really about-- 141 00:07:49,860 --> 00:07:51,820 I would call it an environmental history 142 00:07:51,820 --> 00:07:54,310 of the strawberry industry in California, 143 00:07:54,310 --> 00:07:56,800 really focusing on how many of its advantages, 144 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,010 both social and natural, have been inverted 145 00:08:00,010 --> 00:08:05,500 into a set of interlocking threats, which are really 146 00:08:05,500 --> 00:08:07,900 going to affect how the strawberry industry can move 147 00:08:07,900 --> 00:08:08,400 forward.
148 00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:10,630 And it really can't in its current configuration 149 00:08:10,630 --> 00:08:12,850 without something really shaking loose. 150 00:08:12,850 --> 00:08:14,666 So I'm excited about writing the book. 151 00:08:14,666 --> 00:08:16,540 I'm excited about getting the work out there. 152 00:08:16,540 --> 00:08:18,498 Wonderful, we're looking forward to reading it. OK, thank you. 153 00:08:19,390 --> 00:08:23,040 [MUSIC PLAYING] 154 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:29,163