Excerpted from “Save Family Farms, Save America” by Willie Nelson.

While it might seem obvious to many, good food comes from farms with healthy soil and clean water. As the stewards of the land, family farmers are the foundation of this movement, as well as its guarantor. A healthy America needs many family farmers on the land – Those who grow our food and care for the land and water are of vital national importance. Farmers and their fields are the fabric that holds our country together.

While good, healthy, fresh food from family farms is the most visible product of a sustainable food system or “good food” movement that each of us can enjoy, the movement stands for much more. It represents the interests of all who care about the future of our land, its resources and its people. As members of this movement and as eaters, the food we choose to buy connects us directly to those who produced it and to the multiple reasons why it is in our own interests to see this movement flourish. Preserving family farmers and our farm land also protects our natural resources, health and nutrition, local economies, energy footprint, and even our democracy.

The most direct and regular action you can take is to search out and buy as much of your food directly from farm families in your area. Our food choices today shape tomorrow's agriculture. Think about one food item that you can buy from local farmers and commit to buying it. These small and simple actions are growing a healthier food system and changing American agriculture for the better. The other opportunity we have to further this movement is the current debate over the next Farm Bill. If you value good food from family farms, if you care about local and democratic control, if you care about health and nutrition for children, and if you want your children and grandchildren to enjoy the benefits of a clean environment, then demand a Farm Bill that protects it. The future of good food depends on all of us.

For the full-length article go to http://www.alternet.org/story/35404/

ALBA owns and operates two training and education farms in rural Monterey County:

The Rural Development Center (RDC) is located on a 110-acre organic farm between Salinas and Chualar, and serves as ALBA headquarters, with recent additions including a resource center and classroom, maintenance workshop and produce cooler and distribution facility. The Salinas farm is home to the Small Farm Education Program where beginning farmers learn about organic farming, business planning and marketing. Typically, more than 16 farmers cultivate more than 50 different crops at the RDC. During their tenure here, we help the farmers establish and transition their small farm businesses to other locations.

In order to get a map to the Rural Development Center, please click here: Map This Location

DIRECTIONS – From southbound Highway 101 just south of Salinas, turn left (east) on Potter Road. At the "T" intersection of Old Stage Rd, turn right (south) and proceed 7/10 mile to our driveway on the right. Turn into the driveway and proceed nearly one mile, take the curve to the right, and proceed to the office/classroom building.

The Farm Training and Research Center, also known as the Triple M Ranch, is located in northern Monterey County. This 195-acre farm (60 acres of which can be cultivated due to a natural lands easement) demonstrates soil, water and habitat conservation in the environmentally sensitive Elkhorn Slough watershed. The farm hosts many workshops and field days every year. Local Latino farmers lease land here in order to learn new strategies that can be adapted elsewhere–sometimes on leased land that they manage elsewhere. By creating more diverse market options, ALBA is opening new opportunities for farmers in northern Monterey County, where more than half speak Spanish as their first language.

In order to get a map to the Farm Training and Research Center, please click here: Map This Location

DIRECTIONS – The dry-season driveway is south of the Sill Road intersection with Hall Road just east of Las Lomas. Drive carefully through the low area and veer left at the "Y." Proceed about 6/10ths of a mile to the ALBA office, which is in the green farmhouse located up a short driveway to the right.

WET WEATHER DIRECTIONS – On Hall Road, proceed 3/4 mile east of Sill Road, turn right (south) onto Johnson Road. Turn right onto McGinnis Road, then right again onto Live Oak Road. Where Live Oak Road curves left, proceed forward, stay to the right and drive nearly one mile straight ahead until you get to the green farmhouse.

Lighthawk Images of ALBA’s Farms. The following links lead to large photos of the Rural Development Center and Triple M Ranch. These photos were taken by Lighthawk as a project to inform the Environmental Grantmakers Association about the importance of Marine Protected Areas and the connection among land and ocean in our region of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Lighthawk conducted this work in partnership with the Ecological Farming Association, Wild Farm Alliance and Community Alliance with Family Farmers.

Rural Development Center (4.92 MB jpg file) – This view of the farm looks north toward Salinas. The farm borders are easily identified by the vegetation (hedgerows) not found on neighboring properties. The farm’s numerous native plant hedgerows and diverse organic vegetables present a stark contrast to the other fields. At the center of the photo is the ALBA headquarters and historic barn, with the Demonstration Garden and machine shop to the right.

Triple M Ranch (4.85 MB jpg file) – This view looks west, with Hall Road in the center of the image, and the Elkhorn Slough and Monterey Bay in the background. The Triple M Ranch is to the left of Hall Road, easily identified by the diverse fields that contrast with properties on the right. The Carneros Creek riparian corridor, located between Hall Road and the ALBA farmers’ fields, is the primary freshwater tributary to the Elkhorn Slough. The creek will be the site of a major wetlands restoration organized by ALBA to improve water quality in the Elkhorn Slough.