Occupiers Take to the Farm  Activists in Albany, California have
staged an occupation of a different kind of public space—a farm.
| Wed May 16, 2012 6:00 AM EDT  Early Monday morning, around 100
University of California police raided a five-acre patch of land
owned by UC Berkeley and used occasionally for agricultural
research. The raid came three weeks after roughly 200 activists,
community members, and students took over a small patch of the
land, known as the "Gill Tract," located in the small city of
Albany, just north of Berkeley. The group cleared out piles of
wild mustard, tilled the soil, planted 15,000 donated seedlings,
and set up camp. When the university ordered them to leave, they
kept farming. The university responded by cutting off water
access, setting up barricades, and then filing a lawsuit against
14 people. On Monday, nine protesters were arrested and part of
the farm was bulldozed.  Advertise on MotherJones.com  The land
in question has a long and convoluted history. The university
purch