EARTH’S BOUNTY: A worker at Laughing Earth Farm picks beets. A Trust grant to Scenic Hudson is working with regional growers to improve the sustainability of their farming practices. Photo by Robert Rodriguez, Jr.
Getting healthy food to all New Yorkers is no small task, but we need to do so in a way that keeps in mind the health of our environment. Trust grants are helping improve our food system across the nation.
True reform will require changing how we grow, distribute, and buy food. Our $375,000 in grants to the Health, Environment, Agriculture, and Labor (HEAL) Food Alliance are helping large cities and institutions use their buying power to drive change in regional and national food systems, and training people of color to advocate for federal and state agricultural policies that protect public health and the environment.
The rise of large-scale, industrial agriculture in the 20th century has led to the intensive use of agrochemicals and other practices that degrade soils and natural resources. And the shipping of food thousands of miles carries with it significant environmental harms and risks.
To improve the food distribution system to benefit both New York farmers and consumers, we provided the Natural Resources Defense Council $200,000 several years ago to work with GrowNYC to advocate for a wholesale distribution hub in the South Bronx. This spring, the city and state began construction on this 60,000-square-foot cold-storage facility that will open in 2022, increasing the market for small farmers and the availability of affordable produce to New Yorkers.
RETHINKING AGRICULTURE
“The widespread adoption of agro-industrial practices in the United States produced big surpluses of agricultural commodities in the decades after World War II,” said Arturo Garcia-Costas, The Trust’s program officer for the environment. “But the economic growth and expansion in trade those surpluses created borrowed too much prosperity from the future. They haven’t been good for soil health, freshwater resources, or the global climate, and now we’re really starting to grapple with that.”
It’s an issue that Scenic Hudson plans to address with our funding. It protects farmland and promotes “regenerative agriculture,” a farming philosophy that embraces a return to age-old farming techniques such as crop rotation and planting different “cover crops” on a field throughout the year. These techniques revitalize the soil, prevent erosion, conserve water, and sequester carbon.
Working with farmers to adapt their current methods of farming will take time, though Scenic Hudson has found that working through peers has been effective. The organization will create forums where farmers learn from others who have adopted regenerative practices and also learn about how they can save money, increase their yields, and boost profitability.
A NATIONAL MOVEMENT
A $300,000 Trust grant over three years will allow the organization to continue this work while bringing together stakeholders to advocate to improve the next federal Farm Bill.
“Industrial farms in the Midwest have had the biggest voice in Washington,” said Ned Sullivan, president of Scenic Hudson. “We have an opportunity now through The Trust’s grant to unite states and farmers to become advocates for sustainable agriculture practices so we can have a stronger voice in Washington.”
The Long Island Community Foundation, in partnership with All for the East End, made grants in five towns totaling, $1,397,400, to address food insecurity by connecting organic farms with local pantries in need of healthy food during the pandemic.
Friends of Hilltop Hanover Farm was awarded a $32,000 grant from the Westchester Community Foundation for equipment costs and a coordinator to make sure that fresh produce grown by volunteers and farm staff goes to food pantries.
Peter Panapento
peter@turn-two.co
(202) 531-3886
Courtney Biggs
cbi@nyct-cfi.org
(212) 889-3963
Peter Panapento
peter@turn-two.co
(202) 531-3886
Courtney Biggs
cbi@nyct-cfi.org
(212) 889-3963