[Editor's Note: This story originally was published at 3:47 p.m. Sunday. It was reposted at 1:08 a.m. Monday.]
The following email went out Sunday about a movement by activists to take over the , owned by the University of California, and turn it into an urban farm.
According to one local activist with SF Bay Food Shed, about 300 protesters and food justice advocates marched from a Berkeley rally "and occupied the Gill Tract around 1:30. They immediately started working the land and planting the 10,000 veggie starts they have with them. They are also in the process of setting up chicken coops and other farm infrastructure."
(A later estimate by one member of the occupying group placed the number at closer to 200 activists.)
According to the city of Albany and university planners, the Gill Tract spans about 15 acres on the corner of a 77-acre piece of land that composes . The land is used for agricultural experiments by UC Berkeley’s School of Natural Resources.
In 2010, Damon Lisch, who was a research scientist in plant and microbial biology at UC Berkeley, said "About half the field is for research by the USDA Plant Gene Expression Center, and the other half is U.C. Berkeley research. Some of the world's premier research in plant biology is going on in this field."
As of about 12:30 a.m. Monday, University police had not responded to a request for information about how they planned to deal with the occupation, and there had been no coordinated police activity within the site.
Two UC police officers spoke peacefully with Occupy participants at 12:30 a.m., and asked them to keep the area clean, and said the action would likely garner much more attention from authorities Monday.
Activists said, via a live-streaming video feed, that police told them to leave the property by 10 p.m. Sunday, or possibly face consequences.
One Albany man, , said Sunday that at least 15 Albany residents had come to the Gill Tract to talk and learn about the activity, and that a number of them planned to stay overnight.
McKnight said, in the comments below, that local students, gardeners and farmers had been planning the action since November: "Green houses as far away as Santa Cruz have been nurturing more than 15,000 starts for us to plant."
McKnight said, at about midnight, there appeared to be 40-50 tents, including a "community tent" with 20 people sleeping in it.
"I think maybe 50 people are still up talking about how to make the world better. There are probably less than 100 people sleeping here tonight but well over 300 have been here throughout the day," he said. "We had a nice meeting of about 25 Albany residents right after the 'General Assembly.' Everyone was super concerned that this action stay 100% children friendly and non-confrontational. No fires or drum circles ;) And guess what? Everything is super chill and positive."
McKnight said a community potluck and sign-making party is planned for 6 p.m. Monday.
"We welcome everyone to come down and see what we are doing," he wrote.
RELATED COVERAGE
See our Gill Tract occupation topic page here to find all related stories and blogs.
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EMAIL FROM OCCUPY THE FARM
From: OccupyTheFarm
Date: Sun, Apr 22, 2012 at 2:43 PM
Subject: Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 22, 2012
Occupy the Farm Activists Reclaim Prime Urban Agricultural Land in SF Bay Area
Contact: GillTractFarm@riseup.net
(Albany, Calif.), April 22, 2012 – Occupy the Farm, a coalition of local residents, farmers, students, researchers, and activists are planting over 15,000 seedlings at the Gill Tract, the last remaining 10 acres of Class I agricultural soil in the urbanized East Bay area. The Gill Tract is public land administered by the University of California, which plans to sell it to private developers.
For decades the UC has thwarted attempts by community members to transform the site for urban sustainable agriculture and hands-on education. With deliberate disregard for public interest, the University administrators plan to pave over this prime agricultural soil for commercial retail space, a Whole Foods, and a parking lot.
"For ten years people in Albany have tried to turn the Gill Tract into an Urban Farm and a more open space for the community. The people in the Bay Area deserve to use this treasure of land for an urban farm to help secure the future of our children," explains Jackie Hermes-Fletcher, an Albany resident and public school teacher for 38 years.
Occupy the Farm seeks to address structural problems with health and inequalities in the Bay Area that stem from communities’ lack of access to food and land. Today’s action reclaims the Gill Tract to demonstrate and exercise the peoples’ right to use public space for the public good. This farm will serve as a hub for urban agriculture, a healthy and affordable food source for Bay Area residents and an educational center.
“Every piece of uncontaminated urban land needs to be farmed if we are to reclaim control over how food is grown, where it comes from, and who it goes to,” says Anya Kamenskaya, UC Berkeley alum and educator of urban agriculture. “We can farm underutilized spaces such as these to create alternatives to the corporate control of our food system.”
UC Berkeley has decided to privatize this unique public asset for commercial retail space, and, ironically, a high-end grocery store. This is only the latest in a string of privatization schemes. Over the last several decades, the university has increasingly shifted use of the Gill Tract away from sustainable agriculture and towards biotechnology with funding from corporations such as Novartis and BP.
Frustrated that traditional dialogue has fallen on deaf ears, many of these same local residents, students, and professors have united as Occupy the Farm to Take Back the Gill Tract. This group is working to empower communities to control their own resilient food systems for a stable and just future – a concept and practice known as food sovereignty.
Occupy the Farm is in solidarity with Via Campesina and the Movimiento Sin Tierra (Landless Workers Movement).
The Gill Tract is located at the Berkeley-Albany border, at the intersection of San Pablo Ave and Marin Ave.
• Join us: Come dressed to work! We need people to help till the soil, plant seedlings, teach workshops, and more.
• Donate/lend: We need shovels, rakes, pickaxes, rototillers, drip irrigation tape, gloves, hats, food, and anything else farming related!
• Monetary donations can be sent through our website at http://www.takebackthetract.com
Gill Tract Update: University Shuts Off Water, as Occupy Activists Say Sustainable Community Space is the Goal
WFM has failed to educate their customers about the qualitative difference between natural and certified organic, conveniently glossing over the fact that nearly all of the processed “natural” foods and products they sell contain GMOs, or else come from a “natural” supply chain where animals are force-fed GMO grains in factory farms or Confined Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs). Whole foods sells primarily NOT organic brands from certified organic ingredients BUT so-called “natural” ingredients. With the exception of the “grass-fed and grass-finished” meat sector, most “natural” meat, dairy, and eggs are coming from animals reared on GMO grains and drugs, and confined, entirely, or for a good portion of their lives, in CAFOs. Whole Foods is maximizing their profits by selling quasi-natural products at premium organic prices.Less than 1% of American farmland is certified organic, while well-intentioned but misled consumers have boosted organic and “natural” purchases to $80 billion annually-approximately 12% of all grocery store sales. Don't trust UCB and don't trust "whole foods"
Public institutions and public servants have an obligation to the public. One can argue that the UC Board and the developers are playing in a public sandbox. UC is ASKING for lots of statutory changes, including an exemption to measure D, passed by citizens, so that they can earn MONEY. (I really doubt that this income will subsidize housing as Mr. Huffard claims in every one of his presentations. Subsidize seniors?) If built, Albany residents will pay the price of pollution and traffic nightmares every day. UC could have already easily built a 15,000 sf grocery and senior housing without changing the zoning, but that option is not profitable enough for them. They are insisting on 85,000 sf of retail, not just a grocery store, and the housing. Or else! And, what's going on with P&Z suggesting to allow a 55,000 sf business when the latest from Whole Foods was that the store would only be 35,000 sf? Is there a plan B in case WF bales and UC wants to be able offer a bigger box? I agree that Whole Foods would be a much better fit on Eastshore near Target. Their new store in Brooklyn NY (pop. 2.5 million,) will be 56,000sf.
According to recent figures, state support of UC Berkeley has fallen to 11 percent of revenues. Main sources of revenue are now federal (mostly research grants), philanthropy, and tuition and fees. So I don't think your tax dollars provide much of a subsidy to UC, nor do they justify your trespassing on UC property.
There was violence within the Berkeley camp, primarily among the homeless contingent. But violence is common in the homeless world no matter where they are. Many of them are deranged to begin with, and the strains of homeless life unhinge many more after they have been on the streets for a while. Although I have known some homeless people who are really wonderful human beings. And in Occupy Oakland, the crime rate in the surrounding streets actually went down by 17% while the encampment was there. The main thing to remember about homelessness is that there are several times more empty homes homes than there are homeless. Who is responsible for that? The occupation of the Gill Tract, however, is not designed to be a home, but to be a working farm. I strongly believe that that kind of work and co-operation will be of benefit to everyone there, of whatever economic class.
There is a lot more land in front and back yards than in the Gill Tract. But the public, co-operative work on the Farm will act as an agricultural extension center. It will teach and inspire us to grow as much food as we can wherever we can, and to co-operate doing it. What could be better, especially for the hard economic times we seem to be moving into?
This group comes out of nowhere and says they are occupying in support of urban farming. I think urban faming is presently the most widely supported movement in the country. Everywhere there are free information sources and exciting and positive reports encouraging urban farming. Does it need an occupy movement, no. Clearly the occupy cause here is not support of urban farming but criticism of UC. I’m fine with that, having publicly criticized UC myself; but why not be honest about it. If their cause is really support of urban farming why take over land that is already being used for agriculture research, why no plans for supplying water, why defecate on the soil, making it toxic to edible plant life. But the bigger issue is can we afford to let the rule of the mob prevail. Today this group is trying to force their will on UC; tomorrow they could be occupying the Albany waterfront.
Tell does this sound familiar, I have provided a link to a story on the Temecula Patch. Please read the story and watch the video in the story. Add this to all your facebook accounts, get the word out. http://temecula.patch.com/articles/citizen-reader-shares-mining-sounds