Mona Seymour

I have been vegan for several years, but was not immediately cognizant of the extent to which animal wastes and remains are integrated into organic plant agriculture. As I began to learn about veganic agriculture, it appealed to me greatly as a way to sever ties between chemical-free food production and animal agriculture.

About two years ago I became involved in organizing around veganic growing with Seed the Commons, a San Francisco-based vegan food sovereignty organization, and have also begun to take an academic approach to veganics, as there is little qualitative, social science research that might help us better understand and support this practice.

My degrees are from UCLA (BA, Environmental Studies) and the University of Southern California (PhD, Geography). My training in human-environment relations, experience with interview-based research, and work in and about the veganic movement have prepared me to undertake this project.

Relevant publications and presentations:

Seymour, M. 2018 (expected). Veganic agriculture. In I.W. Hawkins (ed.). Promoting Biodiversity in Food Systems. CRC Press.

Seymour, M., Halstead, E., and Halstead, E. 2017, May 26. Halstead Farm. [Web log post.] http://seedthecommons.org/halstead-farm; http://veganic.world/halstead-farm/

Association of American Geographers annual meeting, Boston, MA, April 2017. Paper: “Veganic growing in the United States.”

Seymour, M. 2016, December 28. Spoke & Leaf Farm. [Web log post.] http://seedthecommons.org/spoke-and-leaf-farm/; http://veganic.world/spoke-and-leaf-farm/

People’s Harvest Forum annual conference, San Francisco, CA, December 2016. Talk: “Status of veganic agriculture in the United States.”

Alisha Utter

I earned a B.A. in Environmental Policy and Marine Science from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). As an undergraduate, I founded P.E.A.C.E. (People for the Elimination of Animal Cruelty through Education), which catalyzed the establishment of a vegan dining hall on campus. At UCSD, I also served as the Director of Food Policy, acting as a liaison between students and administration. I am now in my third-year as a PhD student in Plant and Soil Science at the University of Vermont (UVM). At UVM, I work as a research assistant on a project examining the adoption of produce safety practices on small and medium-scale farms throughout New England. I have experience with interview-based qualitative research and enjoy working with farmers.

I have been vegan for nearly a decade and when I began working in agriculture, I faced a conundrum: the status quo of applying animal byproducts to grow plant crops. I looked to the veganic farming movement to learn alternative management strategies and recognized that veganics offer many potential solutions to larger systemic food/agriculture issues. Today, I co-own and operate a small diversified farm shaped by plant-based principles.

Within this veganic research project, I offer insight as both a beginning farmer and a scholar trained in agroecology, which will aid in the development of a veganic farming manual to facilitate the sharing of farmer-identified best management practices.

Relevant publications and presentations:

UVM Introduction to Ethics and Food Systems Course, Burlington, VT, December 2016. Guest Lecture: “Organic Tomatoes - and Other Vegan Predicaments: An Intro to Veganics."