What Happens When Farmers Can’t Afford Justice?
For Black farmers, financing isn't as simple as turning in an application, submitting the necessary paperwork, and getting approved. For decades, Black farmers have faced extreme challenges, especially when trying to access the systems that are supposed to help farmers farm. That still rings true today.
What Are We Owed? Land As Our History and Future
Black Yard Farm Collective was never simply about producing food. The farm is an opportunity to build community, housing, education, and, most importantly, connect people to land.
New York has the Infrastructure to Keep Food Affordable and Local. It just needs Investment.
You don't have to look hard to find worker-owned cooperatives, community food hubs, local distributors, and independent growers that have built the infrastructure needed to move fresh food from farms throughout the Hudson Valley, the Catskills, western New York, New York City, and beyond. That's exactly what Brooklyn Supported Agriculture does.
Expanding the Vision: Farming for the Commons
When we think of farming, we don't often picture Black and Brown people across generations working and farming together, or farming collectives that grow and distribute food to support their communities. We also don't picture entities like the Iridescent Earth Collective that exists as an agroecological farm project rooted in land stewardship, education, community health, and mutual aid. Who do we consider a farmer, and how can we as a society make it easier for such communities and collectives to thrive?
Planting Resistance: Why New York Should Let Its Communities Grow
Ask a simple question—can New Yorkers grow food on public land?—and you’ll find yourself in a bureaucratic loop. The Art of Community Tree Gardens, a project by artist and farmer Chantel Kemp, puts this philosophy forward—food should be free, and our public spaces should support radical free growing— in both practice and policy.
Food As the Entry Point
Food is the entry point to advancing justice as it is communal, cultural, and conversational. Here’s how Sheryll Durrant, steward or the Kelly Street Garden and IR”s New Roots Program sees food as infrastructure
A Vision of Food Justice, Collective Care, and Safety
Food and medicine are deeply interconnected, but the dominant food policy narrative sees them as inherently separate. Here’s how Amara Ullauri, Ecosystem steward of Ayni Herb Farm is bridging the two and pushing for pandemic solidarity.
If Farm School NYC Closes, What Will the City Lose?
On a humid Friday evening in early September, staff at Farm School New York City (FSNYC), an urban agriculture education organization, called an emergency town hall to share a critical update. They were at risk of closing—as early as the end of the year— and were starting an emergency fundraiser with a $250,000 goal. FSNYC staff shared that federal funding cuts had further deepened their funding gap and put their work with various community partners in jeopardy.
Know Your Farmer: Addressing the Heart of Food Insecurity in Kensington
Kensington, a neighborhood in North Philadelphia, is getting a fresh-produce corner store to tackle the lasting impacts of food apartheid.
The USDA puts back missing webpages. What happens next?
The USDA pulled critical webpages leaving farmers in the dark. But a swift lawsuit, led by farming and environmental nonprofits is getting that information put back