After several weeks of farming on campus-owned property in Albany, the Occupy the Farm movement decided not to plant crops the past weekend.
The activists will now allocate more of their time for other agricultural communities they feel are in need of their support, with the intention of educating the public about sustainable urban agriculture. The activists have been protesting the development of the land historically known as the Gill Tract into a Sprouts Farmers Market and senior housing facility.
Demonstrators also did not plant crops this weekend. Instead of occupying and farming the Gill Tract, members of the Occupy the Farm movement went to San Francisco to work on the Free Farm, a volunteer urban farm founded by nonprofit organizations.
“We decided to slow down to organize our energy in different ways,” said Matthew McHale, a spokesperson for Occupy the Farm. “We can only go so far with planting plants and having them plowed under.”
The university has continuously contested the protests due to their interference with development proposals and research.
“We want to use revenues from development to subsidize housing costs for students, and the community expressed needs for a quality grocery and senior citizen housing,” said UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof. “This is not their property, and our patience is wearing thin.”
McHale said the movement aims to gain safety and control over the food system.
According to Stefanie Rawlings, campus alumna and Occupy the Farm member, the movement is changing its focus to branching out to other communities and interacting with the land in different ways.
“We did not want this to be a war of attrition, so we changed tactics, and now we’re trying to engage more with the land,” Rawlings said.
“The main message is that this is a diverse movement, and there are a lot of other places that need our support.”
In the most recent Occupy the Farm meeting on May 30, the demonstrators decided that they would continue to protest the development of the land with the intention of improving the soil on the property. They plan to continue holding events, including another forum discussing further action.