RIP Fred Kirschenmann

Fred Kirschnmann died over the weekend after a long illness, a great loss.

He described himself as a farmer-philosopher, and so he was.

I first met him in the early 2000s when I went to Iowa State to give a lecture.  The Dean of Agriculture, Cathy Wokeki, said I had to meet him.  He was then directing the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State, which promoted organic, sustainable, regenerative farming methods right smack in the epicenter of U.S. industrial agriculture.  When the Center—an explicit critic of industrial methods—was unsurprisingly defunded, Fred became a Distinguished Fellow of the Center.

I got to know him better when we both served on the Pew Commission for Industrial Farm Animal Production from 2006-2009, where I got to witness his honesty, integrity, thoughtfulness, and humanity in action.

He wrote eloquently about his beliefs about the importance of sustainable faming in Cultivating an Ecological Conscience: Essays from a Farmer Philosopher, published in 2010.  My blurb for the book  pointed out that he’s “right up there with the other agronomic philosophers–-Wendell Berry and Wes Jackson…It should inspire everyone to start planting and to think deeply about the food we eat.”

Since then, I witnessed his leadership and got to see him occasionally at Stone Barns.  Over the last months, I followed his slow and painful decline through the postings of his daughter Annie, and wife Carolyn Raffensperger, on Caring Bridge.

I was touched last week when Carolyn played an interview I had given on PBS News for him to listen to [The interview was about the MAHA Strategy report].

He was an inspiration to all of us who care deeply about how we farm and what we eat.

Sometime during this year, Angie Tagtow and Carolyn collected tributes from Fred’s colleagues and friends.  I am honored to be included among so many esteemed colleagues in this Festschrift volume.

I will miss him.