A Global Dialogue Rooted in Local Wisdom
Hosted by the Temple of Understanding in partnership with the Real Organic Project, this powerful dialogue brought together organic farmers and educators from around the world to discuss the challenges and promise of community-based organic food systems.
This wasn’t just a conversation about farming, it was a call to action. A call rooted in care for the Earth, care for one another, and a belief that our food systems can reflect our deepest values: fairness, sustainability, and community.
Executive Director Alison Van Dyk opened the event by acknowledging the Lenape people, original stewards of the land on which the Temple now operates in Manhattan. This land acknowledgment grounded the conversation in reverence for those who have long honored and cared for the Earth, and invited participants to reflect on their own roles as stewards in today’s world.
Farming with Integrity: Lindley Dixon and the Real Organic Project
Lindley Dixon, a small-scale organic farmer in Colorado and co-founder of the Real Organic Project, spoke passionately about the real-world barriers new farmers face: access to land, access to knowledge, and access to markets. Only a fraction of those who dream of farming ever make it, let alone thrive.
Lindley emphasized that while farmers’ markets and CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs are crucial for building relationships, they often aren’t enough to sustain a farm. Many growers produce more food than they can sell at a local market. The solution? Community-based organic food production and distribution operations like food hubs and farmer-led distribution systems help small producers scale without compromising values.
But even more concerning, Lindley explained, are the growing gaps in what consumers think “organic” means and what’s allowed under current USDA organic certification. Industrial practices like hydroponic growing and confinement animal operations are being certified as organic, undermining the ecological principles the movement was founded on.
The Real Organic Project emerged in response, offering an “add-on” certification rooted in soil health, animal welfare, fair labor, and transparency. Their model is not only farmer-led, it’s globally inspired, drawing wisdom from organizations like Naturland in Germany, where add-on labels have supported small farmers for decades.
Trinidad’s Green Market: Reconnection Through Regeneration
Vicki Assevero, Temple of Understanding board member and founder of the Green Market Santa Cruz in Trinidad, shared a vibrant and hopeful story of how a weekly market became a spiritual and ecological gathering place. Located in a lush, forested suburb, the market was designed to help people reconnect with land, food, and each other.
The market’s educational mission was central. Each Saturday featured “Edible Talks” to educate the public on how food impacts health, the environment, and culture. Topics ranged from pesticide risks to antibiotic resistance. Programs like “Echo Minds” brought children into the conversation in creative ways. One child even coined the phrase “Kills Foolish Children” for KFC, understanding the consequences of fast food diets better than many adults.
The Green Market also empowered farmers through training and collaboration. With support from academic institutions and agricultural agencies, they held workshops on permaculture, intercropping, and low-input growing techniques.
Importantly, Vicki clarified that the organic movement isn’t anti-chemical. It’s against persistent synthetic chemicals that we don’t fully understand. It’s about respecting the land’s capacity to heal and making choices that regenerate rather than deplete.
A Model of Faith in Action
The Green Market was more than a place to shop. It was a place to build spiritual and cultural bridges. Indigenous elders were invited to bless the land. Faith leaders from diverse backgrounds were invited to speak and engage. Local youth created superhero characters like “Agri-Man” and “Photosynthesister” to promote organic values in fun, memorable ways.
As Vicki noted, “Choose Health and Happiness” wasn’t just a slogan. It was a guiding principle. It spoke to the belief that every meal is a choice—and that choice can be a sacred act of care.
The Stewards Next Door: Chuck Kayser in Japan
Chuck Kayser, an American farmer living in Japan, offered a story of personal transformation that will resonate with anyone who’s ever taken a leap of faith. With no background in farming, he started growing vegetables in a small plot. As his garden expanded, so did his sense of purpose.
“My whole energy, my whole outlook, my whole connection with my body changed.”
Today, Chuck operates a teaching farm, Midori Farm Kyoto, that welcomes children, families, and tourists. His mission? Help people experience the miracle of food, the joy of the harvest, and the spiritual nourishment of growing something with their own hands.
Chuck calls it his ikigai, a Japanese word for the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what can sustain you. His niche is giving people a chance to feel the sacred rhythm of nature: to taste lettuce straight from the ground, to plant a seed, to feel the rain.
Organic Farming as Faith-Based Practice
Chuck’s work touches on something vital: the idea that farming is not just work — it’s ministry. It’s teaching. It’s healing. It’s community building. And it can be joyful.
“We farmers, we growers, we’ve often been sidelined… But there’s great value in what we do as producers.”
Despite Japan’s industrial food system where many buy meals from convenience stores and view organic food with skepticism, Chuck finds hope. He taps into shared values like family, education, and beauty to open people’s hearts. Through immersion and hospitality, he helps visitors rediscover a truth older than modern agriculture: food is sacred.
Confronting Challenges with Faith and Imagination
Speakers acknowledged that the organic movement faces serious obstacles: corporate influence, policy limitations, and the spread of invasive species that complicate farming. But they also shared how these challenges are being met with creativity, collaboration, and courage in community-based organic food production and distribution.
Lindley spoke about chemical companies framing toxic herbicides as “environmentally friendly” because of their potency and longevity—language that masks the long-term damage. Vicki discussed how invasive bamboo in Trinidad became a material for furniture and compost. Chuck shared how even small taste tests like store-bought carrot vs. farm carrot can awaken people to what they’re missing.
What Gives Us Hope
The final question was simple: What gives you hope?
Lindley’s answer: young people. More women, more people from underserved communities, more first-time farmers are choosing this path not because it’s easy, but because they believe in it. Communities are stepping up to provide land and support.
“It takes radical generosity. It takes more than showing up at a farmers market. It takes creative thinking and deep collaboration.”
Vicki shared how even after the original Green Market closed, the farmers continued as a group. New generations are adding value to their products, distributing creatively, and building on a legacy. The children who once played at the market are now telling the story.
Chuck, ever humble, said his hope isn’t about fighting the giant systems. It’s about being present, being in service, and sharing the life he’s built one visitor, one tomato, one joyful moment at a time.
“It’s more than hope. It is a way of life that I have found for myself.”
A Shared Moral Calling
For faith-based communities, this conversation offers more than a lesson in agriculture. It’s a reminder that food is a matter of justice, creation, care, and love. Every seed planted, every child inspired, every community fed — these are sacred acts. They are how we live out our values, not just in word, but in soil, in sweat, and in song.
As Alison Van Dyk concluded: “We know we have a better solution with community-based organic food production and distribution.”
Let us plant, nurture, and share that solution. Together.