If it seems like I personally hate corn, I want to take a moment to set the record straight. Corn is, arguably, one of the greatest advancement in agriculture ever made, and we owe an unrepayable debt to Indigenous people for it.

And we owe it more respect than we give it.. 1/

Here's a good book I recommend everyone (maybe just, period?) should read if you're interested in corn. The passage that's always stuck with me the most, that has given me the most insight into why, at the end of the day, we feel some kind of way about corn in particular... 2/

3/

We have an undeniable and inextricable link to corn. But that doesn't justify the way we grow it now, which, it's worth noting, is far from the only way of growing it. Another fav quote: 4/

It is possible, with care and expertise, to grow corn as part of a flourishing landscape. Millions of acres of monocultures are not an essential part of corn production. It's only essential to growing it at the current scale, a scale at which the costs outweigh the benefits 5/

and a scale at which we struggle to find uses for it.

I think it's time to start learning from the people who grew up with corn how we might grow it in a way that isn't quite so destructive to ourselves and our home. That's why US ag/food needs Indigenous leaders like 6/

Dr. Randy Woodley, @SylvanaquaFarms A-dae Briones @DreamWildHealth @Acequiero1 Don Bustos, and Andi Murphy (Toasted Sister Podcast) just to name a few.

Indigenous cultures, wisdoms, and food and farm ways are alive in Indigenous people. It's time to re-center the experts. FIN

One last thing, I have not read it yet, but I am running, not walking, to buy this book ; https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50158998-iwigara