The Economics of Happiness
In a region targeted for plantation expansion, coal mining, and tourist industry development, these two partner organizations – run by the local Venda people – are fighting for food sovereignty, women’s and youth empowerment, and a spirituality rooted in the soil. To learn more, visit http://earthlorefoundation.org, and read this article in Truthout: African Women Organize to Reclaim Agriculture Against Corporate Takeover.
Access to land is one of the biggest challenges for farmers worldwide. In the US alone, 175 acres of farmland is lost to development every hour. Equity Trust, based in New England, works with farmers and land trusts to stem this tide and develop creative solutions for preserving farms. Their approach, based on the affordable housing movement, involves transferring land ownership to a nonprofit entity and leasing land to farmers at below-market rates. The farmers continue to own their homes, buildings, and other infrastructure on the land, with a buffer against the volatility of land prices in the real estate market. Read more about Equity Trust’s work on their website, in this article by The New Food Economy, and in this Medium article.
Farmer’s Share is a permaculture and crafts learning center in Kerala, India, that produces and promotes local food, clothing, pottery and architecture, and facilitates dignified rural livelihoods.
https://vikalpsangam.org/article/farmers-share-towards-dignified-rural-livelihoods/
Fleet Farming is invigorating local food production in Orlando, Florida by converting the lawns of private homes into market gardens. The group organizes bi-weekly Swarm Rides where volunteers bike from garden to garden together, communally maintaining more than a dozen front-yard plots. Harvests are split between the homeowner and farmers’ markets that primarily serve lower-income residents. Fleet Farming has also created nine school gardens on a similar model. In addition, they offer food forest consultations, raised bed installation and maintenance, and farm-to-table cooking classes. Read more at fleetfarming.org.
Food Commons Fresno is a farm, a CSA, a cooperatively-owned business, and a publicly available kitchen, all rolled into one. Many parts of Fresno County, California are low-income food deserts, but not because of any lack of food production – most of the produce is simply exported. Food Commons Fresno aims to change that by integrating local farmers, food trucks, food-related small businesses, and even anchor institutions like hospitals and universities, into a network of institutions that keeps wealth, and food, local. The best part is that it’s a model that can be replicated in cities worldwide! Read more at http://www.foodcommonsfresno.org/ and check out this article about the initiative by the Next City Project.
A few years ago, the staff of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture realized that while school gardens were gaining in popularity in elementary schools, there was still a systemic lack of food education programs for high schoolers. They created Food Ed, a semester-long course that explores the intersection of food, nutrition, agriculture, history, and the environment.
https://www.stonebarnscenter.org/engage/food-education-for-change/
Food Forward connects quality produce that would normally be thrown away with the people who need it most. Working throughout the Los Angeles, California area, Food Forward “rescues” 300,000 pounds of food per week from fruit trees and farmers markets. Through their many diverse partners, over 100,000 people per month (many of them with limited access to produce) are able to take home fresh, high-quality food that would otherwise have gone to waste. To learn more, visit foodforward.org.
Photo by Marta Triviño, (CC BY 2.0)
The Fitzroy Urban Harvest Food Swap provides a space at a local park in Melbourne’s inner city where people meet monthly to exchange produce, seeds, cuttings, eggs, jam, chutney, flowers, jars, recipes and gardening tips. There is no money involved and no proviso that participants should take the equivalent of what they contribute. Rather, people are encouraged to take what they want. To learn more about The Fitzroy Urban Harvest or to connect with other similar projects throughout Australia, visit their Facebook page.
Photo by Sue Jackson
Based in Atlanta, Georgia – the city with the highest level of income inequality in the US – Gangstas to Growers offers a full-time three-month program that reduces recidivism and breaks the cycle of generational poverty by training previously incarcerated young adults in farming and entrepreneurship skills. Revenue from the program’s signature hot sauce provides much of the funding, and gives youth an opportunity to participate in all stages of the business – from seeding to bottling to selling…
https://www.goodfoodjobs.com/blog/gangstas-to-growers-empowering-at-risk-youth-in-georgia/
The Glynwood Center for Regional Food and Farming promotes local food systems in New York’s Hudson Valley, as well as hands-on programs in support of healthy agricultural practices.
