Telling Women's Lives

Farmer Jane Reader Response- Andrew Gormley

Farmer Jane Reader Response: Jo Ann Baumgartner

Jo Ann Baumgartner is an author and the director of Wild Farm Alliance, an organization that works to bring biodiversity conservation to organic farming. She works with farmers to teach them methods that are significantly more friendly to the environment than the current standards and to change their practices and perspectives about how their farm can and should be interacting with the local ecosystem. As the article stated, “Jo Ann knows it’s possible to move the equation towards more on-farm self-sufficiency while preserving nature and enhancing the farm’s business.” I found Baumgartner to be particularly interesting because her organization serves many positive purposes. For one, she teaches farmers to preserve species by working with native animals and insects instead of killing them and destroying their habitats. In addition to the obvious benefit of preserving native species, this helps to keep the local ecosystem in check to avoid issues like a surge in rodent population, as often happens when larger predators are eliminated. Secondly, they save farmers money by teaching them to use their natural resources to protect their crops. For one, they establish nesting sites for predatory insects around the farm, which keep the population of invasive insects low and eliminates the need for pesticides. Additionally, she educates farmers on the benefit of using manure to fertilize crops rather than industrial fertilizers which can be detrimental to the environment. Thirdly, the resulting food is organic and natural and therefore healthier for humans to consume than it would have been had it been treated with pesticides and industrial fertilizers. As a result of Baumgartner’s work, essentially everyone and everything involved benefits, from the ecosystem, to the farmers and their families, to everyone consuming the food.