Webinar: Taking Action for America’s Local Food
This webinar (recorded on November 18, 2020) features the Working Farms Fund, an innovative pilot program launched in metro Atlanta to create a healthier, more equitable and resilient food system with ambitions to expand nationwide. Working Farms Fund stops farmland loss before it is too late and invests in the future of our food system to secure long-term outcomes for healthy food production, climate, economic justice, and conservation.
During a discussion with panelists from the farm, consumer, marketplace and nonprofit sectors viewers learned about the local food challenges people are facing and the viable solutions Working Farms Fund provides to address them.
overview
- Three acres every single minute, 175 acres each hour—farms lost to development every day in America.
- 60 years old—the average age of a U.S. farmer.
- 70% increase—demand at food banks, according to Feeding America, which represents about 200 major food banks across the country. The group estimates that 40 percent of those being served are new to the system.
But there is reason for hope. A new generation of farmers are ready to take over feeding their communities—they just need access to land, capital and a chance to do it. We have a solution.
Panelists
Stacy Funderburke, Working Farms Fund Program Lead and Regional Counsel, The Conservation Fund
Stacy joined The Conservation Fund in 2012 and provides legal counsel for real estate transactions and works on land conservation efforts in Georgia and Alabama. Stacy works with local, state and federal agencies on their conservation priorities in Georgia and Alabama. Additionally, he works closely with a variety of government, business and local partners to expand parks and greenspace, and protect at-risk farmland in the metro Atlanta area. He also serves on the City of Atlanta Green Infrastructure Task Force.
Demetrius Milling, Assistant Farm Manager, Love is Love Farm
Demetrius is the Assistant Farm Manager at Love is Love Farm, where he supports team management, crop planning and day-to-day operations. In 2014, Demetrius began his farming career at Brightside Farm, another urban farm in Atlanta. He then earned an Associate Degree in Horticulture at Gwinnett Technical College, where he managed the on-campus farm—growing, selling, and donating food to the Lawrenceville community. Demetrius now serves on the boards of the Dekalb/Rockdale County Farm Bureau, Georgia Farm Bureau Vegetable Advisory Committee and the Gwinnett Technical College Horticulture Program.
Ciannat Howett, Director of Sustainability Initiatives, Emory University
Ciannat is the Associate Vice President of Resilience, Sustainability and Economic Inclusion for Emory University and Emory Healthcare, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor. Ciannat founded Emory’s first Office of Sustainability Initiatives in 2006 before assuming her current role, where she manages an enterprise-wide effort to ensure that Emory’s actions and policies support environmental, social, and economic systems. She is a frequent regional and national speaker on sustainability issues, and, for four years, was named a “Georgia Super Lawyer” by Atlanta magazine.
Judith Winfrey, Co-Owner of Love is Love Farm, and Co-Founder of Wholesome Wave Georgia and Community Farmers Markets
The granddaughter of a Georgia sharecropper, Judith is a strong force in Atlanta’s local food and farming advocacy community. Since 2008, Judith and her husband have co-owned Love is Love Farm. In addition, she’s served as CEO for an e-commerce food delivery business based in Atlanta, COO of Linton Hopkins’ hospitality management group, co-founder of both Wholesome Wave Georgia and Community Farmers Markets, as leader of the Atlanta chapter of Slow Food International, and as Regional Governor for Slow Food USA.
Keith Kelly, Owner of Kelly Products
Keith opened for business as a small manufacturing facility in Covington, Georgia in 1992. Kelly Products has morphed into a regional agricultural empire, employing 200 people across a dozen companies, supplying customers, businesses and government with a broad range of products and services.
