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The Center of Opposition: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology

Anneliese Abbott

2 days ago3 min read

The Center of Opposition: Council for Agricultural Science and Technology

The original headquarters of CAST was in Agronomy Hall at Iowa State University It’s the first week of November, and I’m on the road...

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Compost and Community: Biodynamic Farming at Threefold Farm

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 193 min read

Compost and Community: Biodynamic Farming at Threefold Farm

The Pfeiffer papers are in the basement of this building at Fellowship Community My final stop on my June research trip is in New York,...

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Traveling to Bethlehem (Pennsylvania): The Rodale Archives

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 123 min read

Traveling to Bethlehem (Pennsylvania): The Rodale Archives

The July 1940 issue of You Can't Eat That contains the first article that J.I. Rodale reprinted about organic farming “But now you’re...

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Cows, Horns, and Biodynamic Dairy Farming

Anneliese Abbott

Dec 53 min read

Cows, Horns, and Biodynamic Dairy Farming

It’s 6:30 a.m., the sun is shining, and it’s milking time in the Camphill Village Kimberton Hills dairy barn. I walk over from Sherry’s...

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Off to Pennsylvania: Tales from My Organic Research Trip

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 283 min read

Off to Pennsylvania: Tales from My Organic Research Trip

What better time than Thanksgiving Day to look back with gratitude on all the amazing experiences I’ve had this year? I know, it might...

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Blame the Americans: Why India Turned Away from Organic Farming

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 212 min read

Blame the Americans: Why India Turned Away from Organic Farming

Up through the early 1950s, practically every Indian agricultural writer promoted composting according to Howard’s Indore Method as the...

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Gandhi and Organic Farming: A Little-Known Connection

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 143 min read

Gandhi and Organic Farming: A Little-Known Connection

Sir Albert Howard’s Indore Method of composting eventually founded the organic farming movement in the English-speaking world. There’s...

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Compost or Chemicals? Fertilizer Experiments in Colonial India

Anneliese Abbott

Nov 72 min read

Compost or Chemicals? Fertilizer Experiments in Colonial India

One of the most famous experiments comparing chemical fertilizers and manure is the long-term study at the Rothamsted Experiment Station...

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The British in India: Colonial Origins of Organic Farming

Anneliese Abbott

Oct 313 min read

The British in India: Colonial Origins of Organic Farming

Most people agree that organic farming started in India. That’s where Sir Albert Howard, often referred to as the “father of organic...

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The Desolate Year: Defending Pesticides with Horror Stories

Anneliese Abbott

Oct 243 min read

The Desolate Year: Defending Pesticides with Horror Stories

One of the things that intrigues me most about the anti-organic rhetoric used by scientists is how unscientific and emotional it usually ...

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Insect Apocalypse: Promoting Pesticides with Doomsday Fears

Anneliese Abbott

Oct 173 min read

Insect Apocalypse: Promoting Pesticides with Doomsday Fears

A little-known fact about the rise of chemical-intensive agriculture in the United States is that it was motivated by doomsday fears....

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Rejected by Society: Why Helen and Scott Nearing Went Back to the Land

Anneliese Abbott

Oct 103 min read

Rejected by Society: Why Helen and Scott Nearing Went Back to the Land

While many people went back to the land because of an impending societal crisis, for others the crisis was personal. Such was the case...

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Island of Security: Why Louis Bromfield Went Back to the Land

Anneliese Abbott

Oct 33 min read

Island of Security: Why Louis Bromfield Went Back to the Land

In the twentieth century, each major wave of the back-to-the-land movement has been triggered by some kind of crisis. In 1939, that...

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Preparing for the Apocalypse: Doomsday Fears and Homesteading

Anneliese Abbott

Sep 263 min read

Preparing for the Apocalypse: Doomsday Fears and Homesteading

I find connections to organic farming in the most unexpected places. This time, it was in a random book I just picked up from the library...

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An Inconvenient History: The Racist Roots of Progress

Anneliese Abbott

Sep 193 min read

An Inconvenient History: The Racist Roots of Progress

After completing my master’s degree at UW-Madison and moving home, I spent over a year trying to understand why highlighting a connection...

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Forbidden Perspectives: How Breaking Academic Consensus Cost Me a PhD

Anneliese Abbott

Sep 123 min read

Forbidden Perspectives: How Breaking Academic Consensus Cost Me a PhD

There’s a big difference between graduate and undergraduate college classes. In most undergraduate classes, you sit and listen to a...

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Is the Scientific Consensus on Evolution Free or Forced?

Anneliese Abbott

Sep 53 min read

Is the Scientific Consensus on Evolution Free or Forced?

To fund my second year in graduate school at UW-Madison, I applied for several different teaching assistantships. One was to teach...

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Are Christianity and Environmentalism Incompatible? Refuting Lynn White, Jr.

Anneliese Abbott

Aug 292 min read

Are Christianity and Environmentalism Incompatible? Refuting Lynn White, Jr.

I am a Bible-believing creationist Christian. I am also an environmentalist and an organic farmer. I see no conflict between the two. But...

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Fighting Racism with Love: Koinonia Farm in the 1950s

Anneliese Abbott

Aug 223 min read

Fighting Racism with Love: Koinonia Farm in the 1950s

“On Monday night, July 26, Koinonia Farm’s roadside market was dynamited. About 10:15 p.m. a car evidently came into the driveway, tossed...

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Women and the Land: Organic Gardening at Grailville in the 1940s

Anneliese Abbott

Aug 153 min read

Women and the Land: Organic Gardening at Grailville in the 1940s

Along with the National Catholic Rural Life Conference and Catholic Worker, there was a third organization involved in the Catholic...

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History of Organic Farming in America

By Anneliese Abbott

Organic History

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