By Myles Lennon, Breanna Regan, Leah Penniman, & Dennis Derryck
Introduction #
How can we contribute to economic and social justice?
If you’re an emerging or experienced farmer, you’ve probably asked some version of this question before. Many of us cultivate the land to fight against the food injustices plaguing low-income communities, to create local and healthy alternatives to toxic agribusiness, and to revitalize longstanding traditions of food-based communal care. But as you know well, farming is hard, time-consuming work, often with limited financial rewards; aligning our social justice principles with the day-to-day grind of the farm is a constant struggle. This challenge is only greater in low wealth communities, where people are often without the means to afford and access healthy, sustainably grown food.
As much as farmers want to support the community, the community needs our solidarity. About 50 million Americans are food insecure, with half of those individuals living in food deserts, where it’s difficult or impossible to access affordable, healthy food. This lack of access to life-giving food has dire consequences for people. The incidence of diabetes, obesity, and heart disease are on the rise in all populations, but the greatest increases have occurred among people of color, especially African-Americans and Native Americans. These illnesses are fueled by diets high in unhealthy fats, cholesterol, and refined sugars, and low in fresh fruits, vegetables, and legumes. In our communities, children are being raised on processed foods, and now over one-third of children are overweight or obese, a fourfold increase over the past 30 years. This puts the next generation at risk for lifelong chronic health conditions, including several types of cancer. Good food is a basic human right, not a privilege reserved for the few.
It is incumbent upon us to do our small part in the movement for food justice. This manual offers strategies and insights to help you run a small farm business that supports the needs of low-income communities. This manual is drawn from: (1) our experience growing Soul Fire Farm, a family farm working to end racial and economic injustice in the food system; (2) the experiences of our allied farms in the struggle for food justice; and (3) extensive research on resources and best practices for serving low-income communities in the local food and agricultural sector.
This manual is broken up into five sections. The first section provides an overview of the Soul Fire Farm food distribution model. The second section explains the main barriers to accessing fresh food in low-income communities. The third section will introduce you to several strategies and best practices for serving low-income communities, offering concrete approaches to overcoming the barriers that we identify. The fourth section discusses government resources for affordably meeting the nutritional needs of low-income communities, laying out a range of funding opportunities that you can take advantage of.
The final section presents three case studies to illustrate the ways in which farmers across the country have worked with other organizations in their community to make their produce accessible to their low-income neighbors while keeping their farms financially stable.
This manual is predominantly focused on community supported agriculture (CSA) and farmers markets. (We assume that you are at least generally familiar with CSAs and farmers markets, however if you would like some introductory information you can learn more about each here and here, respectively.)
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