Warrior, builder, and weaver work are strategic activities aimed at creating social change. Often these activities are intermingled and complementary, and necessarily so in order to achieve maximum impact.

GW Stevenson, (Remaking the North American Food System) speaks at this year's Organic Summit on Warrior, Builder, Weaver work as part of the "What's So Radical about Organic Agriculture now?" session.

Are you a Warrior, Builder or Weaver?

Warrior Work (Resistance)
Warrior work contests and challenges aspects of the prevailing agri-food system and/or resists attempts to subvert valuable achievements, institutions, or rules. Resistance to confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) is an example of the first kind of warrior work, while resisting attempts to subvert the National Organic Rule is an example of the second. While warrior work focuses primarily on the political sector, its goal is to change both political and economic structures as well as the attitudes and beliefs of civil society. While the most visible warrior work employs such high profile tactics as public protests, boycotts, or court cases, other, more “in the trenches” forms of warrior work are equally important, e.g., lobbying and legislative work.

Builder Work (Reconstruction)
Builder work seeks to create alternative approaches and models in the agri-food system. While examples exist in the political sector, such as legislation creating “green payment” farm policies, the majority of builder work in the modern agri-food system occurs in the economic sector through the creation of new food production and distribution enterprises and relationships. Being entrepreneurial rather than political, builder work occurs at multiple levels. One level involves the formation of business enterprises that exhibit inclusionary or reformative intent. Inclusionary initiatives support increasing the amount of organic or locally grown food sold in large supermarkets. Builder efforts include scaled-up “agriculture-of-the-middle” enterprises. Other projects include regional networks of CSA farms or efforts by organic grain farmers to create collective marketing structures at regional or national levels, or transformative systems being developed that could replace current fossil fuel-dependent agricultural technologies with ecologically based food production systems.

Weaver Work (Connection)
Weaver work focuses on creating linkages and connections that support change- promoting activities. It develops networks and coalitions among groups engaged in builder and warrior work. Weaver work is performed by a wide range of players, from community-based organizations and grass-roots coalitions, through professional associations, publications and conferences, to collaborations among food system academics and practitioners to explore new concepts and develop research and analysis. Of the three change activities, weaver work is the most explicitly oriented toward social movement building. It focuses largely, but not exclusively, on civil society through outreach and organizing activities.

Explore the social change archetypes of “Warrior, Builder and Weaver”, how the terms apply to “radical” agriculture, and what our roles are whether we are a warrior, builder or weaver by attending the Organic Summit June 3-5th, 2009.