Roots of Change

09/28/2026

🌎 For four days in Torino, the world came together around good, clean, and fair food.

Terra Madre del Gusto gathered the Global Slow Food Network and hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world—turning the city into a hub of seeing, tasting, touching, and imagining the future of food.

Through assemblies, delegate meetings, panels, conversations, workshops, markets, dinners and events, this year’s theme, “Biodiversity – Be Diversity,” came to life.

Biodiversity isn’t only about protecting the food we eat and the land that feeds us. It’s also about recognizing the strength in our differences. That’s the spirit of Terra Madre: food unites us across languages, cultures, and borders. Within those exchanges we can discover common ground, shared struggles and collaborative solutions for a more resilient food future.

Thank you for welcoming us, and to the many friends, allies, and partners who continue to lift one another up in this work. Tagging a few and missing many!

We’re already looking forward to gathering again next September at Terra Madre Americas! 🐌








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09/18/2026

What if one antidote to polarization is giving people back a sense of agency?

Yes, we live in a challenging moment, and yes, our traditional institutions are failing to address our many challenges. While faith in our institutions is fading, Jon Alexander, author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us, argues that what he is hearing in every corner of our country are people asking for something different:

1. Honesty about the challenges we face
2. A meaningful role in confronting them
3. The agency to act

In our latest episode of Flipping the Table, Michael Dimock sits down with Jon Alexandar to explore a clear and hopeful pathway for all of us to reclaim our agency as citizens. He shares bright spots of deliberative democracy, citizens assemblies, relational public services, and wealth building emerging around the globe. Infact, these two thought leaders discuss where food system transformations are some of the most momentous examples of a renewed form of much needed citizenship.

🎧 Listen now — link in comments!

09/08/2026

“And yet it’s remarkable that the livelihood of American ranchers is being shaped in private meetings between the president of the United States and a representative of Brazil’s largest exporter of beef.”

Who gets a seat at the table when decisions are made about the future of American agriculture?

This New York Times Opinion piece, “Why Did Trump Order Up 660 Million Pounds of Mystery Meat” by Eric Schlosser, raises important questions about the pressures facing U.S. ranchers, the growing concentration of power within the beef industry, and the policies shaping who benefits from the food system.

Worth the read and a conversation 👇

On second thought, I’m not that hungry.

09/03/2026

🎙️ We are looking forward to our upcoming podcast interview with renowned author and speaker Jon Alexander for our September Flipping the Table episode.

Jon Alexander is a global advocate for community power and democracy, best known as the author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything Is All of Us and co-founder of the New Citizenship Project.

The ROC team met Jon at the Old Salt Festival in June where he was a keynote speaker. We were very impressed with his ideas and his passion.

Look for our podcast announcements in our newsletter and on social media. In the meantime, check out this TedTalk where he refers to examples of citizens taking control and creating the change they want to see instead of waiting for politicians to do the work.

Citizen strategist Jon Alexander spent a decade gathering stories of democracy in action — and found that most change doesn't come from politicians or institutions. He shares examples from across the globe of ordinary people working together to improve their lives and communities, showing why the ...

08/27/2026

A time of crisis is a time to speak up. We are very concerned by the current farm crisis rocking the nation—and you should be too.

Cyclospora in industrially-bagged lettuce has sickened over 10,000 people.

Cuts to SNAP are increasing nutrition insecurity.

The fewest number of cattle in the nation since the early 1950s has kept beef prices at record highs.

The recent decision on beef imports will harm American ranchers while aiding middle men and the imports are unlikely to lower consumer prices.

Diesel and fertilizer prices and interest rates are all extremely high eroding agricultural profits.

Should we go on?

The headlines are full of disturbing news and these challenges are deeply connected. They demand agricultural policies that strengthen the health and resilience of the whole food system.

In his latest blog post, Michael Dimock outlines what sound agricultural policy should accomplish: keep family farmers on the land, ensure healthy food is accessible to all, protect the natural resources agriculture depends on, and build greater resilience for the future.

If you do one thing today, read Michael’s blog and send his recommendations for sound agricultural policy to your elected representatives.

Read “A Time of Crisis Is a Time to Speak Up”:
https://www.rootsofchange.org/blog/a-time-of-crisis-is-a-time-to-speak-up/

Then find your elected representatives: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

Image: Rally in front of the CA state capitol in Sacramento.

08/25/2026

“We adopted the regen model probably 40 years ago, before they even had a word for it.”

That’s Glen Hall of Timber Ridge Land and Cattle in Southwestern Alberta. The Halls are pioneering a model of ranching rooted in a simple belief: the land they steward is a gift, and it’s their responsibility to leave it healthier, more resilient and abundant for generations to come. Their approach reflects what many now call regenerative agriculture or holistic management, but for the Halls, it began more simply: with a responsibility to care for a thriving ecosystem, and along the way, figure out how to make that commitment work as successful ranchers.

In the final episode of our 2026 Old Salt Festival series, Michael Dimock talks with father and son, Glen and Cody Hall, and Sheldon Atwood of Western Ranchlands Corporation about stewardship, succession and education, the interdependence of rural and urban communities in regional food systems, and what becomes possible when we manage working lands for ecological, economic and community health.

🎧 Listen now — link in comments!

That’s a wrap! What was your favorite Old Salt Festival conversation with the farmers, ranchers, business leaders and advocates working together to build healthier food systems?

08/20/2026

You know Wendell Berry. You should know Mary Berry…

“We don’t just have an agricultural problem in this country. We have a cultural problem.” That’s Mary Berry, Executive Director of The Berry Center and daughter of Wendell Berry, on why supporting small farms isn’t just about defending farmers against industrial agriculture — it’s about rebuilding the culture and economy that make equitable and environmental land use possible in the first place.

In our latest episode from the Old Salt Festival series, Michael Dimock sits down with Mary to learn about the Berry family legacy, why small-farm agriculture matters, and the work of building a future in which farmers and healthy rural economies can thrive.

🎧 New episode live now — link in comments!

08/12/2026

One week late, but what if every week was ?! 🍑🫐

Each trip to your farmers market is a chance to discover what’s growing around you and support the people who grow it.

That’s one way to . What’s yours?👇

08/10/2026

74% of America’s landmass is considered rural. Just 14% of Americans live there.

Rural residents are a minority in America—and rural communities are too often overlooked or reduced to political narratives, except when elections or Farm Bill debates put them briefly in the spotlight.

But rural America contributes much more to the cultural and social fabric of our nation than mainstream narratives reveal.

In Episode 4 of our Old Salt Festival series, ROC’s Michael Dimock and Tay Lotte sit down with two longtime rural advocates: Anna Claussen, Founder of Voices for Rural Resilience, and Ash Hanson, CEO of The Department of Public Transformation.

Their conversation looks beyond the urban-rural and political divides to explore the distinct cultures, deep care for people and place, and creative resilience alive in rural communities—and what becomes possible when those strengths are recognized and supported.

Listen to “The Heart of Rural America We Don’t See” and discover what rural people and communities have to share with urban America that makes us a better nation.

🎧 Find the full episode below!

Youtube: https://youtu.be/ZSDaGlVptzQ
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3zWEax1OLJe1NyYhhquiqa?si=652d55fb6c2e4d96
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/s8-ep-9-old-salt-festival-p4-the-heart-of-rural/id1449331366?i=1000782019365

08/07/2026

Happy National Farmers Week! Every trip to the farmers market is a chance to support the people and farms in your local food system. 🍑

That's one way to .