One of the most influential figures in California organic agriculture, Amigo Bob Cantisano passed away in December 2020.
From UC Santa Cruz: "A lively narrator with vivid recollections of many significant chapters and characters in the history of California organic culture and agriculture, Amigo Bob Cantisano has countless stories to tell. Sarah Rabkin interviewed him on April 7th and 9th, 2008, in the farmhouse kitchen of his Heaven and Earth Farm, located on the San Juan Ridge in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills, north of Nevada City."
Transcript and full audio. University of California Escholarship Site. Audio may be accessed using the "Supporting Material" tab at the bottom left of the page.":
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/98z5t9df#main
https://escholarship.org/uc/item/98z5t9df#supplemental
From The Union newspaper: Amigo Bob Cantisano, 69, an early pioneer of the organic farming movement whose accomplishments have been featured in National Geographic and the New York Times, died Saturday after an eight-year battle with head and neck cancer. "Cantisano wanted to have his body composted in the world’s first human composting facility, just opened for business this month, Bliss said. Cantisano’s family is accepting donations to help cover the costs with a GoFundMe page and the resulting cubic yard of compost should be ready for pick-up in roughly a month."
https://www.theunion.com/news/organic-farming-pioneer-amigo-bob-cantisano-dies/
From LA Times: "Near the end of his life, Cantisano expressed frustration that organic farming was still only a small slice of agriculture — even as environmental threats increased. But he was never consumed by the disappointment. He liked to swim in lakes and rivers and hike in the Sierra and dance.
“Amigo was about adding life, whether it was microbes in the soil or turning up the music,” Earnshaw said. “He always said perseverance and diligence are the key to getting things to change. And lately I’ve been thinking he was talking about more than farming.”
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-29/amigo-bob-cantisano-organic-farming-movement-dies-at-69
