The four farmers who make up Eugene’s Ant Farm Collective grow staple crops and produce, selling them to local markets and restaurants as part of a burgeoning “new farmers movement” that is using small-scale, sustainable farming to revitalize local food systems. But unlike other beginning farmers who rent or borrow money to buy land, Shelley Bowerman, BA ’09, and her partners rely on shares or work exchanges arranged with landholders. The four farmers each live on different sites and have their own kitchen gardens, but share the work in the common plots that produce the market goods: many hundreds of pounds of tomatoes, potatoes, onions, winter squash, and other hearty, nutrient-dense food. Read more on the Oregon Quarterly website.

Photo by Charlie Litchfield