25. Don Bustos, farming with the same rituals and traditions as his ancestors

Sustainable Agriculture Policy with Ron Kroese

“I like to tell people we still farm the same land our ancestors farmed 400 years ago, and we still use the same rituals and we still use the same tradition. We incorporate a little new technology that allows us to be economically viable.” -Don Bustos

This week, our host Ron Kroese sits down with Don on his farm in the village of Santa Cruz in northern New Mexico on land his family has owned for more than three centuries. Don talks about traditions, the importance of leaving the land for the next generations, and how he became a sustainable ag leader.

In the 1970s, Don began converting his farm from 100 acres of row crops to 3.5 acres of year-round organic production with more than 70 varieties of fruits and vegetables. For more than 20 years, he has used solar energy for year-round production, installing his first panels with the help of a Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant.

Over the past three decades, he has been involved in efforts to improve state and federal public policies to advance sustainable and organic farming. For many years he served as director of the American Friends Service Committee's New Mexico program and was a co-founder of the National Immigrant Farming Initiative.

In 2015, he was one of five people to receive the James Beard Foundation Leadership Award, which recognizes "who influence how, why and what we eat."

The interview was conducted on Feb. 21, 2017.

Additional links this episode:
National Sustainable Agriculture Oral History Archive (video link)
National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition
Center for Rural Affairs

--------

Liked this show? SUBSCRIBE to this podcast on Spotify, Audible, Apple, Google, and more. Catch past episodes, a transcript, and show notes at cfra.org/SustainbleAgPodcast.