For the love of it: Catie Gressier discusses how Australians can support rare and heritage breed farmers and chats about her new book 'Saving Heritage Breeds: A Love Story'

Saving Heritage Breeds: A Love Story by Catie Gressier is the third book in UWA Publishing's Vignettes series. In this interview Catie speaks with UWAP intern Maria Kakani about the research and inspiration behind her book and how everyday Australians can support local heritage breed farmers.

Catie Gressier is a cultural anthropologist whose research explores foodways, tourism, and health and illness. Catie is a European Research Council funded researcher in the Department of Anthropology and Ethnology at Uppsala University, a PhD candidate in Creative Writing at Curtin University, and an Adjunct Research Fellow in the School of Agriculture and Environment at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of At Home in the Okavango: White Batswana Narratives of Emplacement and Belonging (Berghahn), and Illness, Identity and Taboo among Australian Paleo Dieters (Palgrave).

Maria Kakani: What motivated you to choose this topic for your vignette? 

Catie Gressier: In 2017, I started researching regenerative farming. When I learned about the huge number of breed extinctions, I was shocked more people weren’t talking about it. So I developed this project, which I was thrilled to receive Australian Research Council funding for through the DECRA scheme, and spent four years doing a deep dive into the issues with two amazing PhD students.   

MK: What is the impact you hope this book will have? Why do you think it is especially relevant now?

CG: The dream would be for lots of farmers to read it and to start farming some of the breeds at risk. I also hope the book raises eaters’ awareness of the challenges small-scale farmers face, and the passion and commitment it takes to ethically produce the food we all take for granted. Once breeds are gone, they’re lost for ever, so now is the time to act.

MK: Does your knowledge of heritage breeds affect your personal life?

CG: Absolutely! I am really lucky now to be in the position of knowing so many incredible farmers, so I can readily buy produce direct from them that I know has been lovingly raised in ways respectful of the environment and animal welfare.

MK: Did your understanding of farming change in any way after conducting participant observation?

CG: Yes! I learn something new every day I’m on a farm. Many farmers do, too, I think! Farming is not a straight from the textbook kind of job. Every day is different and presents new, unique challenges, and farmers meet these with a kind of MacGyver approach that one way or another gets the job done!

MK: What are some ways people can support heritage breed farmers?

CG: They can stop buying meat from Coles and Woolworths and start buying direct from farmers. Farmers’ markets are an easy place to start, but many more can be found online through some judicious googling. Breeds like Berkshire are now pretty widely available, as one example. Chat to your butcher and to staff in restaurants, too. Ask about where they source their meat, what breeds they stock, and show them you’re interest in ethical farming and breed diversity.  

Another huge way to help is to join farming organisations like the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia and the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, who both do wonderful work supporting rare breed farmers. 

Large Black pigs. Photograph by Tammi Jonas.

MK: In the book, you mention that your family has farmed cattle and sheep for a long time. Has this influenced your study and research choices?

CG: Farming has been a big part of my family’s history. When I was a kid, I had my heart set on being a pig farmer. I love pigs, they’re so smart, curious and engaging. Of course I forgot all about that as life—unexpectedly in academia—unfolded, so it was a super cool realisation that I’d kind of come full circle to this dream eventually, even though I was writing about them rather than raising them myself. 

MK: Did you have any personal experience in farming before you conducted your research?

CG: Yes, my uncle and aunt were dairy farmers for a long time, before moving into beef cattle. I grew up in Sydney, but adored being on their farm in the Northern Rivers, NSW, so as a kid, mum made sure that I had lots of school holiday time there. I used to wake up before dawn and loiter outside my aunt and uncle’s bedroom door eagerly waiting milking!! My cousin has now bought the farm next door, and while it’s a bit of a trek getting there from Perth, it’s still one of my favourite places to spend time. 

Belted Galloway cow with one-week-old calf. Photograph by Scott Carter.

MK: Other than participant observation and interviews, did you employ any other research methods?

CG: I started this project in January 2020, just as Covid struck, so I had to do a bit of my own MacGyvering with research methods. With WA’s closed borders, I couldn’t for the first year or so get to the many farmers I’d planned to do research with on the east coast. So I pivoted to initially doing phone interviews, and engaging in online forums etc, which was far more effective in building relationships than I had anticipated. It was a relief when the borders finally opened, though, and I could spend time on farms outside of WA.

MK: How long have you been researching heritage breeds?

CG: This project ran from Jan 2020-Oct 2023, so almost four years with a sole focus on rare and heritage breeds.

MK: What was your writing process for this book like?

CG: Intense! I wrote this book after the ARC grant had finished, and I was working in two other roles, so it was a juggle. But academic life is always about managing competing priorities, and I carved out a 7-week period where I really focussed and just smashed it out. After almost four years researching the topic, I knew the material well, so it flowed relatively easily. I think it’s a really important story to tell, and overall I really enjoyed writing this book. 

MK: How did you balance your fieldwork for this book with other commitments?

CG: As a parent, balancing fieldwork and home life is a huge challenge. My PhD research was in Botswana, and I would have loved to have continued to conduct research in southern Africa, but it is just too difficult as a mum. This book is dedicated to my daughter for her patience in putting up with my absences, endless farm talk, and being dragged to various farms and ag shows on weekends this past few years.

Saving Heritage Breeds: A Love Story by Catie Gressier is out now from UWA Publishing. Purchase your copy here.

Maria Kakani is a student at Murdoch University completing a Bachelor of Arts, with a double major in Sociology, and English & Creative Writing. In her final semester, she plans to move on to do her Honours in Creative Writing.

Photograph of Dotti the Elliotdale sheep by Sue Curliss (left). Photograph of Dotti seeing herself in Saving Heritage Breeds: A Love Story by Sue Curliss (right).