Joel Bleifuss is Barn Raiser Editor & Publisher and Board President of Barn Raising Media Inc. He is a descendent of German and Scottish farmers who immigrated to the Upper Midwest in the 19th Century to become farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas. His grandmother was born in the Scottish Highlands to parents listed in the Census of Great Britain, 1881 as “farm servants” on land owned by the Duke of Fife. Joel himself was born and raised in Fulton, Mo., a small town on the edge of the Ozark Highlands. He got his start in journalism in 1983 as a feature writer and Saturday reporter/photographer for his hometown daily, the Fulton Sun. Bleifuss joined the staff of In These Times magazine in October 1986, stepping down as Editor & Publisher in April 2022, to join his fellow barn raisers in getting Barn Raiser off the ground.
Organizing Rural and Small Town America for Affordable Housing and Racial Justice
And I think that’s how community should be built, right? We should be interacting with people that don’t look like us, that don’t think like us. And that’s the beauty of constructing community, creating those connections.
June 17, 2024
Building Movements for Food and Racial Justice Through Organic Farming
Every time I visit a farm, I have hope. Despite everything that’s going on, the fact that people are still producing so much food and thriving gives me hope.
April 3, 2024