The planet is burning up. It is urgent to implement real solutions.

Chema Hernandez Gil, Alisha Utter and Nassim Nobari will put out a call to heal the planet with a genuine agricultural revolution. They will speak about popular false solutions to climate like tech-fixes and grazing, and about the why and how of transitioning to a veganic food system.

This panel is part of the 5th Soil Not Oil International Conference.

Towards a Veganic Revolution: Agriculture as the Key to Social Equity and Sustainability
Masonic Hall 3:40 PM – 5:10 PM

Chema Hernández Gil, Board member and co-founder of Seed the Commons
Nassim Nobari, Director and co-founder of Seed the Commons
Alisha Utter, Plant and Soil Science/Agroecology PhD Student; Veganic Farmer

The speakers:

Chema Hernández Gil is a union organizer and co-founder and board director at Seed the Commons, a grassroots organization that works to create sustainable and just food systems that are independent of animal exploitation. Born in Mexico and raised in the southern United States, he experienced firsthand how communities were impacted by immigration due to both historical and contemporary policies. Through Seed the Commons, he has focused on diet, agriculture and urban spaces within the context of decolonization and climate change.

Nassim Nobari is the co-founder and director of Seed the Commons, a grassroots organization that advocates for a transition to vegan agroecology.  As a long time food activist and animal liberationist, Nassim set out to counter the myth that sustainable farming requires animal exploitation. Through her programming, Seed the Commons has been instrumental in popularizing veganic farming and growing the veganic movement in the United States. Seed the Commons created the resource center Veganic World and founded the People’s Harvest Forum, the only conference on radical food politics to adopt an animal liberation ethic. By creating platforms for veganic farmers, Nassim continuously works to normalize veganism and build awareness around the corporate takeover of food systems. In 2018, Seed the Commons organized the farmer’s contingent of the Rise For Climate, Jobs, and Justice march – led entirely by veganic farmers.

Alisha Utter co-stewards Arbor Farmstead, a veganic fruit farm guided by agroecological principles on the Lake Champlain Islands in Vermont. In addition to farming, she is a PhD student at the University of Vermont where she is a member of the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative. The focus of her dissertation is on the practices/principles of veganic agriculture and the intersections with food sovereignty, regenerative agriculture, and agroecology. Alisha is especially interested in issues related to beginning farmers and climate change adaptation. She serves as a leadership member for the Vermont Young Farmers Coalition and the Vermont Vegetable and Berry Growers Association and as an appointee on the Vermont Working Lands Enterprise Board.