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Amy Hepworth’s life’s passion is feeding people. Back in 1982, Cornell University degree in pomology fresh in hand, she took the reins of Hepworth Farms, a nearly 200-year-old apple farm in New York’s Hudson Valley…
…And just this month, the Cornell Alliance for Science has named Hepworth its Farmer of the Year.
Today, Hepworth Farms produces over 400 varieties of certified organic vegetables on 400 acres of NOFA-certified land. Yet Hepworth, whose studies in ag science were just getting started with her B.A. in pomology, has some serious concerns about anointing the “organic” label as the be-all, end-all of healthy eating and about hard-line opposition to genetic modification of crops…
Seedstock: This is an interesting point of view for someone who does a lot of organic farming.
Amy Hepworth: …Biotechnology is still very challenging and expensive, but very promising. What s most important is applied research; meanwhile, the land grant universities have been radically defunded.
We can talk about the industrial revolution and its wars and chemicals, but it was also about trying to feed people, and just because things went wrong doesn’t mean we should ignore what went right. It’s a complicated world we’re living in; course corrections are needed. Nature has them too. If I could just influence food systems activists to focus on a third way, and on making the conversation a more positive one, that would be great.
Read full, original post: Women in Food: Farmer of the Year Amy Hepworth Advocates for a ‘Third Way’
