Food and Farms
Cheers to an amazing first two years! We recently had the pleasure of celebrating with the farmers, partners and supporters responsible for the success of our Working Farms Fund initiative. While we wish we could have invited everyone to join us for the delicious, locally sourced meal and farm tour, we invite you now to keep reading for a behind-the-scenes look at the event and an incredible new video featuring some of the evening’s attendees. Join us!
Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the union, but buying farmland here comes with the biggest price tag in the country. This high cost makes it nearly impossible for smaller farming operations, particularly new farmers and those of color and lower economic means, to buy land. For more than 40 years, Southside Community Land Trust has been working hard to change this dynamic in communities across Rhode Island, and recently, with help from The Conservation Fund, acquired a new farm property to help achieve its goals.
Over a year and a half into the COVID-19 pandemic we are still seeing a significant lack of reliable and healthy food in rural communities. We’ve also seen the incredible results that happens when communities are given the necessary resources to implement their own solutions to food insecurity. Rapid relief funding programs have been an essential tool, but there are opportunities to do more. We must continue to invest in grassroots organizations—specifically those led by and serving people of color—for sustainable, long-term food security.
The recent protection of the last remaining farmland in downtown Boulder, Colorado—a unique farm within a city—is the result of the Long family’s steadfast commitment to see their land conserved instead of developed.
Earlier this year the Urban Food Forest at Browns Mill captivated a global audience around the idea of a free food forest built to address food access and health issues for residents in the community. Sitting just a few miles south of Atlanta’s city center, the Browns Mill community has historically struggled to get access to fresh fruits and vegetables. The food forest now provides many of those residents with fresh healthy food, greenspace, and educational and workforce opportunities.
We spoke with Celeste Lomax, Food Forest Steward and owner of Celestial Care Solutions, about why this greenspace is so important, what it means to provide fresh produce and holistic care for her community and what other urban conservation organizations can learn from her success.
America’s farmers are some of the greatest stewards of the land we have. They live on the land, they’re livelihood depends upon it, and caring for and sustaining it long-term is in their best personal and economic interest. And while farmers haven’t always liked the term “conservation,” there are many creative ways that agriculture and environmentalism can work hand in hand to ensure a more sustainable farming future.
The land we protect and the food we eat are incontrovertibly connected. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, food supply chains have been massively disrupted and, in many under-resourced communities, food has been harder to come by. We’ve worked in concert with local food hubs in North Carolina to ensure food insecure families have enough to eat without taking on any unnecessary risk.
Currently, half of the earth’s habitable surface is used for agriculture production. And the $5 trillion global industry is only getting bigger. Leading Harvest, a newly formed sustainable agriculture nonprofit, seeks to influence the industry for the better by improving transparency and ensuring everyone has access to healthy soil, food, and water for generations to come.
Over the last few decades, America’s local farms have been disappearing at an alarming rate. High costs, low margins, increasing consolidation, and aging farmers have put our food supply in a precarious position. In mid-November, The Conservation Fund gathered a panel of partners from its Working Farms Fund to discuss the plight of the American farm and propose solutions for a healthier, more equitable and resilient food system. Here are the major takeaways.
SAVE Farm was founded to give military service members meaningful skills and job opportunities in agribusiness (farming and farming-related commercial activities) upon returning to civilian life. To date, SAVE Farm has trained more than 500 veterans, and more than 90% of these students have gone on to hold jobs related to farming. Find out how SAVE Farm provided one former Army helicopter pilot the opportunity and skills to turn his passion for helping people into a new career… goat farming!
Nicolas Donck is one of those people. He’s a farmer, and one of the many unsung American heroes helping meet our needs during these uncertain times. Nicolas owns and operates Crystal Organic Farm, one of the very first USDA certified organic farms in the state of Georgia, conveniently located an hour east of downtown Atlanta. He has always been forward-thinking about the evolving needs for farms and farmers—setting a precedent for how other small and mid-size farms can run profitable businesses, create new markets, and grow the local food needed to sustain communities.
