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History of Organic Farming in America
By Anneliese Abbott
Organic History
Blog


Is Kottman Hall a Fallout Shelter? Cold War Institutional Architecture
When I was a student at The Ohio State University, I always wondered why Kottman Hall had so few windows. The legacies of the Cold War...
Anneliese Abbott
Mar 133 min read
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Nuclear Tourism: How I Got Interested in Cold War History
On the surface, this just looks like a ranch-style house. But what's underground could destroy civilization. September 29, 2011—Rapid...
Anneliese Abbott
Feb 273 min read
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New Jersey and Ohio: My 2025 Speaking Schedule
I'll be presenting on "Can Organic Feed the World?" at both the NOFA-NJ and OEFFA winter conferences Now that the holidays are over, tis...
Anneliese Abbott
Jan 23 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Dec 26, 20243 min read
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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,...
Anneliese Abbott
Dec 19, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Dec 12, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Dec 5, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Nov 28, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Sep 26, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Sep 19, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Sep 12, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Sep 5, 20243 min read
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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...
Anneliese Abbott
Aug 29, 20242 min read
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Spiritual Narratives: Pope Pius XI's Catholic Critique of Materialism
All of the historical narratives that I’ve discussed so far have one thing in common—they are secular. They focus almost exclusively on...
Anneliese Abbott
Jul 18, 20243 min read
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When Facts Don't Fit: Limitations of Critical Race Theory
I was a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from 2020 to 2022—during some of the most tumultuous years politically in...
Anneliese Abbott
Jul 11, 20243 min read
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The Newest Narrative: Critical Race Theory and Agricultural History
There’s one more major narrative about agricultural history that I haven’t mentioned yet—not because it isn’t important, but because it’s...
Anneliese Abbott
Jul 4, 20243 min read
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Sir Albert Howard's Version of Agricultural History
Organic farming has always questioned the progressive narrative of history. It has to. After all, if the progressive narrative is true,...
Anneliese Abbott
Jun 27, 20243 min read
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Why the Anti-Organic Historical Narrative Is Progressive
History is storytelling, and there are different types of narratives that can be used to frame a historical event. Last week, I...
Anneliese Abbott
Jun 20, 20242 min read
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Storytelling and History: Why Narratives Matter
One of the most important things I learned in graduate school was that history is storytelling—and that there are different ways to tell...
Anneliese Abbott
Jun 13, 20243 min read
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What Really Happened? How the Pandemic Changed My View of History
When I first started writing about the past, I had lofty ideals. My goal was simple—to find the truth and tell it. I often wished that it...
Anneliese Abbott
Jun 6, 20243 min read
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