Oral history interview with Denise A. O'Brien, 2021
Abstract
Denise O'Brien reflects on her career in organic agriculture, activism, and politics, and discusses her service as an agricultural policy advisor for Afghanistan during the Obama administration from 2011 to 2012. O'Brien shares stories of her involvement with many notable twentieth century social and political movements, including the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam War movement, back-to-the-la nd movement, activism in response to the farm crisis of the 1980s, and activism on behalf of women in agriculture. O'Brien describes her grassroots organizing efforts in Iowa during the farm crisis, and recounts her role in the foundings of the Progressive Prairie Alliance; the National Family Farm Coalition; and, following her participation in United Nations conferences in the 1990s, the Women, Food, and Agriculture Network. O'Brien describes her involvement with Iowa state agricultural policy during the governorship of Tom Vilsack, her 2006 campaign for Iowa secretary of agriculture, and her search for a position in the Obama administration. She provides details about the process by which she was trained for deployment to Afghanistan; the barriers to working directly with women farmers in Afghanistan; and the attempts by U.S. advisory delegations to replicate American industrial agricultural methods in Afghanistan, often at the expense of traditional and local water management and growing practices. O'Brien also describes the barriers she faced as a woman in agriculture and in movement politics, and outlines the evolution of women in agriculture from "farmers' wives" to "women farmers" over the course of her career
Presidents--United States; Agriculture and state--United States; Agriculture and state--Afghanistan; Women in agriculture--United States; Women in agriculture--Afghanistan; Women farmers--United States; O'Brien, Denise; Obama, Barack; National Family Farm Coalition (U.S.); Women, Food & Agriculture Network; United States. Department of Agriculture
Format
oral histories
Genre
Interviews
Date
2021
Physical Description
56 pages
Note (Biographical)
Denise O'Brien operates the Rolling Acres Farm with her husband Larry Harris in Atlantic, Iowa. She is an influential and prolific farm activist, and is the founder of the National Family Farm Coalition; co-founder of the Women, Food and Agriculture N etwork; and co-founder of the Southwest Iowa Food & Farm Initiative. O'Brien was the Democratic nominee for Iowa secretary of agriculture in 2006, and she served as an agricultural policy advisor in Afghanistan during the Obama administration from 2011 to 2012
Note
Interviewed by Nicole R. Hemmer on September 29, 2021. This interview is part of the Columbia University: Obama Presidency Oral History
Note (Provenance)
Denise A. O'Brien, Gift, transferred from Columbia Center for Oral History Research 2023