How to do it:

Go for a drive in the country and stop at farm stands. You’ll find everything from local meat and frozen berries to pickles and honey. Buy directly from farmers whenever you can, to keep our ability to feed ourselves alive. The conglomeration of mega-corporate factory farming threatens our food stability, contributes to abusive and environmentally damaging practices, and destroys an American way of life. Offer to pay in cash. The economics of small farming is almost impossible, and the small card charge savings may be meaningful to them.

Yes, I know farmers mostly voted for Trump, but we need domestic farming, and years of barely scraping by made rural communities particularly susceptible to the appeal of “strong leadership” that authoritarians rely on and which is fed by fear. There are also more Black, queer and hippy farms than ever before. Keep an eye out for those and give them a social media boost, too.

Other ways you can support farmers: join a CSA, look for local products in stores, make “farm activities” like apple picking or hayrides a family tradition, and shop at farmers markets in the summer.