Connecting Farmers of Color to Local Food-Insecure Communities
Jan 19, 2021 - Consider one of the greatest ironies from the pandemic: Small farms and farmers are unable to sell their produce, while record numbers of Californians go hungry.
Systemic racial discrimination and this pandemic have revealed a $46 billion agriculture industry with deep flaws. Socially disadvantaged and with limited resources, Black, Brown, and Indigenous farmers have long been denied access to financing, infrastructure, knowledge and power-sharing while under-resourced communities have poor access to healthy food, contributing to chronic diseases and poor health outcomes.
In the absence of a concerted government response, Growing the Table is experimenting with different food distribution models across California. We are comprised of California growers, aggregators, local community organizations, food banks, and government partners.
Together we are forging connections between small farms and their communities to build an inclusive and equitable food system that will last through the pandemic and beyond.
To date, we have completed the first round of pilots in Marin, San Mateo, Monterey, Oakland, Fresno, Sonoma, and Monterey-Salinas, while a second and third round of pilots are getting underway.
SAN MATEO & SONOMA
In Sonoma County, where thousands of undocumented farmworkers struggle to pay rent and to stay healthy, the number of people going to food banks jumped 50% after the pandemic hit. And then the fires came. The LNU Lightning Complex fires in Sonoma, Lake, Napa and Solano counties were the second-largest on record in California. And nearby in San Mateo, the CZU Lightning Complex fires were the third largest in California’s history.
The one-two punch of the pandemic and the fires jump-started our emergency relief efforts. Growing the Table funded emergency harvests from farms whose produce was under threat from the fires, and partnered with distribution nonprofits to deliver locally sourced fruits and vegetables.
“We believe local farmers can and should play a role in feeding hungry families whether there is a pandemic, a natural disaster, or nothing calamitous at all.” -Andy Ollove, Food Access Program Director, Fresh Approach
Our network with Fresh Approach, Farm to Pantry, FEED Sonoma, Corazon Healsburg and Off the Grid, delivered more than 5,000, 12-pound produce boxes and over 43,000 freshly prepared meals to food-insecure populations, many of whom are immigrant farmworkers who are residents of subsidized housing.
Several Growing the Table source farms reported that without emergency payments their harvests would have gone to waste. Instead, this produce from 40 local farms was able to feed the neediest communities.
“Although there are a lot of resources and grants right now, they do not reach the people they should reach.”
RICHMOND
In many communities across California, the food crisis is often a product of socio-economic discrimination.
In Richmond, a place with poor health outcomes, where almost a third of its residents live in food deserts, disruptions to the traditional supply chain have forced more people to look to emergency solutions.
Compared to the rest of Contra Costa County, a disproportionate number of Richmond residents are at high risk of developing poor health conditions. Those at greatest risk for poor health outcomes in Richmond are low-income residents of color, especially African Americans. Richmond has a high proportion of deaths from diabetes, and an above average child asthma hospitalizations. Richmond is also disproportionately affected by heart disease, cancer and stroke.
Access to healthy food, and food of all kinds, became worse in the Richmond community when the pandemic hit. So many families looked to community supported agriculture (CSA) programs. Growing the Table partner Urban Tilth reports that membership for their CSA program has tripled since the pandemic began. Families are expressing delight and relief at having access to fresh produce that they previously did not have access to.
With support from Growing the Table, 1,600 fresh CSA produce boxes were delivered directly to under-resourced Richmond residents. This type of food prescription program can lead to behavior change and help prevent conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, or obesity.
Urban Tilth nonprofit partners with local, small farms, and is using additional funds from Growing the Table to purchase a refrigerator van and employ a full-time driver to deliver more fresh produce directly to under-resourced families
“When COVID started, stores were running out of food. And there really wasn’t a plan for emergency food access. With funding from Growing the Table, we have been able to continue delivering produce to over 190 families each week without interruption after the end of the USDA’s Farm to Families program.”
MONTEREY
Research clearly shows that eating an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables has a significant positive impact on health, which is why access to nutritious food is a critical healthcare prevention strategy.
A significant portion of the nation’s leaf and head lettuces, strawberries and broccoli are grown in Monterey County. And yet 1 in 4 people in Monterey County are hungry - many of whom are farmworkers who grow this fresh food. Monterey County has a higher rate of diabetes than the statewide average and one of the highest percentages of overweight children among California’s 58 counties.
Clearly the local food system is not working for local communities.
So Growing the Table partners Epic Farmshop and Kitchen Table Advisors are distributing 50 boxes of local, fresh produce each week for six weeks to some of the most food-insecure communities in Salinas, Monterey and Watsonville areas through several channels including the Food Bank of Monterey County and their network of 160 partner nonprofits.
In total, these pilots in the Monterey region will distribute a total of 2,780 fresh, locally sourced, nutritious food boxes to food-insecure families over the course of three months - 35,000 pounds of produce.
This pilot sources from a farmer network that is largely composed of graduates from the Agriculture and Land Based Training Association (ALBA). This network is a vast majority of people of color, most of whose farms are between five and 25 acres.
FRESNO
In Fresno, Hmong farmers, who - before COVID - traditionally sold their produce at farmers’ markets and to restaurants in coastal cities, are unable to engage with direct-to-consumer sales. They also suffer in a market demand shortage due to language and technical barriers.
Growing the Table reached out to one of the largest community groups with the cultural expertise to develop new connections, the Asian Business Institute and Resource Center (ABIRC). Like many community actors providing emergency food aid, ABIRC had seldom worked in food systems before but their credibility and trust with Hmong farmers has been established - two ingredients not quickly or easily replicated.
When the distribution gaps became clear, ABIRC became a de facto farm aggregating center, and with funds from Growing the Table, was able to fill over 11,425 boxes of mostly culturally appropriate Asian vegetables and fruits from local micro-farmers - and distribute them for free into the local community.
The vast majority of farms purchased from were family micro-farms of between one-half acre and two acres. In the first round of three buyback events, ABIRC used Growing the Table funds to give a wholesale payment to 65 local small-business micro-farms.
The flexibility of Growing the Table’s grants played a key role in expanding the number of micro-farmers able to source from. A restriction on a grant from the City of Fresno mandated farmers and families served live within the city itself.
Growing the Table’s grant allowed for purchasing from micro farmers located outside the Fresno municipal area, and enabled ABIRC to expand the number of BIPOC farmers and families served beyond the City of Fresno to the county.
The Fresno pilot with ABIRC was so successful, Growing the Table allocated additional funds specifically to facilitate a local Asian and Pacific Islander micro-farmer crop buyback in the Sacramento area. We provided the funds to purchase produce from an additional 31 local Asian and Pacific Islander micro-farmers, paying up to $1,000 per micro-farmer.
OAKLAND
Almost 800,000 Bay Area residents are experiencing food insecurity, with the highest number living in Alameda County. As food relief organizations grapple with higher demand, reductions in donations and volunteer shortages, Growing the Table is working with Mandela Partners to help feed Oakland’s food-insecure communities. Mandela Partners addresses issues of economic disinvestment, food insecurity, and health inequity, building on local assets to cultivate thriving communities.
Together, we provided 3,200 bags of locally sourced, nutritious fruits and vegetables distributed to under-resourced Oakland residents. That’s 355 bags of fresh food distributed each week, sourced from 15 farms owned and operated by people of color, many of which were organic. The average size of the farms sourced from that produced the food bags was 35 acres.
Mandela Partners is now planning to invest in critical infrastructure to allow their program to serve up to 10 more farmers yearly and grow their capacity to reach local families.
In a separate Oakland collaborative , Growing the Table partnered with Salesforce and Eat. Learn. Play., Oakland Unified School District, World Central Kitchen, Numi Foundation Full Harvest, Uber Freight, Growing Together, Mandela Partners, Dreisbach Enterprises, Hellman Foundation and Battery Powered to support direct-to-home deliveries for about 5,000 families per week, with an expansion target to serve at least one million school families with millions of pounds of fresh food.
