Michael Pollan (photo by Alia Malley)

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Edible Education, a series of filmed lectures, panel discussions and live events about the politics, economics and social movements surrounding food, takes place this fall at Simon’s Rock College, in a collaboration among Berkshire Co-op Market, Berkshire Grown and Simon’s Rock. The series begins on Wednesday, October 3, 2012, with “An Introduction to Edible Education,” a filmed lecture by renowned food author Michael Pollan, originally given at the Edible Schoolyard Project at the University of California Berkeley. Pollan is the author of four New York Times bestsellers: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual (2010); In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto (2008); The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals (2006) and The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World (2001).

The series continues on Wednesday, October 17, with an in-depth panel on the 2012 Farm Bill.  Also from the filmed Berkeley series, the speakers include U.S. Congresswoman Chellie Pingree of Maine, Dan Imhoff, co-founder and director of Watershed Media and Ken Cook, co-founder and president of Environmental Working Group.

On November 7, the subject turns to the politics and economics of meat.  Speakers include Mike Callicrate, independent cattle rancher, business entrepreneur, political activist and consultant on book and movies such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Fast Food Nation and Food Inc, and Bob Martin, senior policy advisor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for a Livable Future.

The series concludes on Wednesday, December 5, with a special live event with Michael Klare, Five Colleges Professor of Peace and World Security Studies based at Hampshire College. The presentation, entitled “The Global Food Crunch,” will discuss climate change, population growth, land grabs and other threats to food sufficiency. Klare is also a regular contributor to The Nation Magazine and Mother Jones along with serving on the board of directors of Human Rights Watch.

All events will take place at the lecture center of Bard College at Simon’s Rock.  All events take place on Wednesdays at 7pm and are free, with a five dollar suggested donation that will benefit the work of Berkshire Grown.  For more information, contact Matt Novik at 413.528 9697 x 39 or mnovik@berkshire.coop