Fernanda Lugo shares her experience of going to the 2024 Bioneers Conference.
Part 1: On Land and water driving across the US.: Texas to California…
My mentor and friend Laurie Marshall and I drove from El Paso, Texas to the Bay Area for 16 hours, in two days, to bring our Singing Tree Murals and supplies to display and create a mural at the Bioneers Conference, 35th year.
The road trip was a nice space to connect more ideas and prepare myself for the adventures I'd have in California. On the way, we crossed the hot deserts of Arizona, Tucson, Phoenix, and L.A., and arrived through the large middle of California agriculture. It’s bigger than you’re imagining it. Even bigger. Onward and onward it goes, you can spot orange trees, other citruses, and peaches. Nothing labelled= you just have to know from the shape of the leaves, and branches. It would be nice if it were labelled we thought. “This is where your almond milk comes from” a sign would say. “Thank the migrant workers who work in these fields” another could read. Signs did abound about water and how they (the farmers?) think it should be managed. “Does growing food waste water?” a sign asked. “Newsom, stop wasting our water”. It was a great road trip to discuss the politics of water rights and management but we came home even more enlightened on the topic since water and land management was a big topic on the Bioneer's conference agenda.