Introduce yourself! Who are you and where are you located?

My name is Maggiy Emery. I joined the Greener Pastures Board in September 2022. When I’m not serving on the board, I work as the director of Development and Communications at Protect Minnesota and the Co-Director at the Rural Rising Project. In addition, I am the Deputy Campaign Manager at Jeff Ettinger for Congress, a Board Member at Healthcare for All Minnesota, and an Associate Board Member at the Andrew Goodman Foundation. I live in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Why did you choose to work at GP?

We have to eat every day, which means that food is one of the ways that we get to decide to do equitably every day. Greener Pastures is doing the complicated, hard work of making it easy and accessible to do food equitably, and I'm excited to be a part of creating that.

What influences the food choices that you make?

Making food choices is so complicated! When I walk into the grocery story or farmers market, I always want to make the most equitable, animal- and human-rights conscious, environmentally friendly choice first, but let's face it: eating equitably is complicated! There are so many other factors that come into play when I decide what to eat: affordability, how something tastes, what I ate growing up, what my partner likes to eat, what time of day I'll be eating, etc. I am grateful for tools like those provided by Greener Pastures that help me identify how I can accommodate all those things, and eat equitably!

What is a top priority for you in changing our food system?

Anti-trust and breaking up the corporate monopolies that have so much power over what farmers can produce, when, and at what operation size a farm can be successful is a particular priority for me. Giant corporations that produce crops and livestock as fast and cheap as possible often deliberately stand in the way of success for smaller, family-sized operations that want to produce food in a more humane way. These corporations are often responsible for the proliferation of the chemicals and pesticides that pollute our lands and waters, as well as the monocrop culture that leaches nutrients from the soil.

We need to create room in the market for smaller operations that operate in more equitable, humane, and environmentally-conscious ways. One way to effect change is with your wallet--buy your food from local producers when you can and organically when affordable.

Another critical way to effect change is to talk about this issue! Many outside of farming communities aren't aware of the monopoly problem in the agricultural economy. Read up about it, talk to your family and friends, and encourage them to make similar changes in their food-purchasing practices. Finally, advocate around this issue. Talk to your federal and state representatives about your concerns about monopolization in farming, and make it clear that it's an issue that you vote on.

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