think about the most recent trip you took to your local grocery store. how long did it take you to get there? did you take multiple forms of public transportation? how accessible was your trip? for the many people living in the district’s wards 7 or 8, it can take them a long time with multiple forms of transportation to get to their nearest grocery store.

arcadia center for sustainable food & agriculture is providing a unique solution to bring food closer to d.c. residents living in areas with little to no food access. outreach and education manager, juan pablo echeverria, takes us along on a tour of arcadia farm to show us how their sustainable agriculture is contributing to food accessibility in d.c. 

the time is now to face the future of humanity’s greatest challenge: climate change. listen to the innovation and reconstruction that college students are expecting to make through public policy to combat climate change here on the game plan podcast with host anika pillai.  

game plan podcast episode description: america’s food vegetation

this episode contains strong language about hunger. 

as inevitable globalization pushes for urbanization, it is important that we avoid industrialization forms of development or hyper urbanization. instead, development which centers local communities and tailors to each street, each store, each person is the most productive and sustainable form of development.  now, how do you do that? sustainable development is a wicked problem and in today’s episode we will discuss one aspect of it: food distribution. unequal distribution of nutrition, vitamins, and calories across the united states is the source of many public health issues. behind the health crisis is unsustainable farming and produce. america’s food vegetation is made up of many food deserts and swamps. to turn those swamps and deserts into lush rainforests with a diverse variety in nutritional foods, we will discuss a public policy game plan that can make it happen. 

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music: “not listening” by ketsa (cc by-nc-nd 4.0)

“when we first got furloughed, we thought it was only a couple months, like two months, three months,” kwong said. “and then they keep extending, extending, extending. the city opened back but the hotel didn’t have enough conventions, meetings, or tourists so they don’t have the revenue to call everyone back to work.”

the month he was put on furlough, george started volunteering at the san francisco marin food bank to help out his community. months later, in june 2020, the food bank hired kwong. he plans to continue working there even after he returns to his job at the hotel.

“working at the hotel wasn’t just a job, it’s what i like to do,” he said. “if people are happy with the food you make, you are happy too. same thing, when you serve the community, you help people and make them happy.”

as the covid-19 pandemic triggered a global economic crisis, many were out of work and unable to afford food. out of the 2.6 million people in california who lost their jobs between february and april 2020, 64% were in jobs in low paying industries which disproportionately employ people of color.

in early august, 2021, over a year into the pandemic, new covid-19 cases reached the highest daily average since january 2021––coinciding with the rise of the delta variant. in the united states, communities of color have been disproportionately hit by covid-19 due to economic inequities that stand to continue in a post-pandemic world while wealthier majority populations return to “normal life.” this trend held true in san francisco, where people of color, 54.8% of the population, accounted for 63.3% of total covid-19 cases as of august 28, 2021. the case rate was even more disproportionate at the beginning of the pandemic, from april 2020 through august 2020, when latinx residents accounted for over half of the cases each month despite making up only 15.2% of the population.

when california became the first state in the u.s. to issue a statewide stay-at-home order in march 2020, communities needed adaptation and expansion of food assistance initiatives. in response, the city of san francisco partnered with local non-profit and community-based organizations to minimize food insecurity through the pandemic. the city spent more than $80 million in the 2021 fiscal year to create new food security programs and initiatives, said susie smith, deputy director of policy and planning at the san francisco human services agency.

smith said that this budget “provided for continued support for food access through local food banks, programs for older adults with disabilities—people (who) were specifically being asked to stay at home—as well as meals for unsheltered people and meal delivery options for people (who) needed to isolate and quarantine.” 

the san francisco marin food bank partnered with the city government to pilot pop-up pantries which provide produce free of cost. 

“investing in the bank was our mass distribution effort,” smith said. “(the food bank) created a robust network—about 20-22 pop-ups across the city that the food bank had organized.”

meanwhile, the nonprofit meals on wheels san francisco delivered 2.4 million meals and served 16,460 individuals overall in 2020, three-times the number of people served in any prior year; the organization broadened their services beyond their pre-pandemic demographic of senior citizens, according to jim oswald, director of marketing and communications at meals on wheels san francisco. meals on wheels partnered with the city to become the intake for the isolation and quarantine line—a hotline for individuals to call if they were impacted by covid and could not get groceries. according to their blog, nearly 87% of meal delivery requests through the hotline are in african-american and hispanic communities.

another program, farm to family repurposed wasted produce from farms and delivered it to food banks. the federal and state governments expanded supplemental nutrition assistance program (snap) benefits to increase access through pandemic electronic benefits transfer (p-ebt) cards, which repurposed the money towards summer meals for low-income students to spend on food. 

hilary seligman, professor at the university of california, san francisco, has studied food insecurity and hunger policy. seligman said, “this layered intervention is a quilt of things between school meals, women, infants, and children (wic) changes, snap changes, pop up pantries and farms to family. through all those things together, i think we really kept food insecurity rates much, much, much lower than they would have been.”

while the city of san francisco and local organizations innovated to serve food insecure populations, some initiatives were built for the short term and lacked the infrastructure to be durable, seligman said.

for instance, great plates delivered, a unitary federally funded california emergency food project, ended its food assistance program in california after 18 months. and farm to family, though federally funded, lacked infrastructure at the state level to be distributed fairly through the state of california, according to laura reid, director of communications at ca association of food banks. keely hopkins, communications manager at the san francisco marin food bank, said she recognized anecdotally that the food bank might not be serving certain demographics as well as others and that they hope to take a more data driven approach to inform targeted outreach in the future.

in a perfect world, seligman said, fewer people would rely on nonprofits and community based organizations for food.

“ideally, we would have a social safety net in place that was provided equitably to all people so that there weren’t people who fell through the cracks,” seligman said. “we’re not there.” 

local and state governments are limited in their ability to spend on social programs because they can’t run deficits, according to michael hankinson, professor of political science at george washington university. they can take out debt, but that starts to hurt them in the long run.

still, the pandemic brought broad attention to a pre-existing need for policies to address food inequity in the long term––and illuminated a path toward durable and equitable food policy initiatives, according to samina raja, professor of urban and regional planning at the university at buffalo and leading expert on building healthy and equitable food systems. 

“society at large felt there was a crisis because the wealthy and majority populations were bearing the brunt,” raja said. “that’s why everybody started paying attention (to issues of food insecurity). that kind of crisis already exists in my city in the black neighborhoods. i have elders, black elders, who are routinely without food, who are routinely without deliveries, who do not get calls from their social service workers. that is not new for them. in fact, some of them were like, ‘we know what to do, because we’ve seen this before.’”

she continued, “going forward, local governments would be smart by investing in (policies) and programs that center black communities and brown communities because they actually know what their neighborhoods need. the lesson from covid is when you move forward beyond the crisis points, remember that community networks are essential for developing thoughtful food policy.”

according to raja, one way to bring black and brown communities into the conversation is to establish black and brown-led advisory groups within local governments. this develops more infrastructure for food initiatives by ensuring communities of color are represented in policy deliberations. 

this method is being tested in baltimore, where the city government implemented a food policy council. resident food equity advisors work closely with city staff to provide recommendations that support the community with nutritious and culturally appropriate food.

raja recommended another solution involving the consultation of communities of color––reforming urban agriculture. this may come in the form of community land trusts that are controlled by black and brown households in black and brown neighborhoods. 

“(a land trust is) a specific mechanism that allows communities themselves to take control of land and decide how it serves the needs of residents and neighborhoods of color,” raja said. 

unless paired with policy measures to ensure affordable housing, increasing property value can be counterproductive for residents of low-income neighborhoods, who may be pushed out by increased rent or property tax. organizations like the dudley street initiative implement strategies that encourage development without displacement, raja said. 

entrepreneurial grant programs for black, indigenous, and people of color communities also aid in the prevention of food insecurity because they allow “black and brown communities, immigrant and refugee communities to start up their own food businesses,” raja said.

yet, according to seligman, these initiatives are easier to implement on the local and state level. california has already implemented a universal school lunch program, school meals for all. 

“a lot of the policies in place for government programming systematically exclude people,” seligman said. “they are rooted in a desire from previous generations to limit access to that programming. and while there are efforts to unwind many of those policies, the federal systems tend to do this unwinding slowly.”

while community organizations provided short term solutions during the economic precarity of the covid-19 pandemic, those invested in food security may look ahead to the next renegotiation of the farm bill in 2023. according to seligman, 80% of the funds included in the farm bill are dedicated to federal nutrition programming, presenting a substantial opportunity to change the infrastructure of federal support for the food system across the u.s.

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about this series: the planet forward-fao summer storytelling fellows work was sponsored by the north america office of the food and agriculture organization of the united nations (fao), and the fellows were mentored by lisa palmer, gw’s national geographic professor of science communication and author of “hot, hungry planet.”

edralin interviews leaders of the green bronx machine, an impact-driven organization based in the bronx that builds local food systems and empowers students to grow and consume their own healthy foods. crossing paths with the green bronx machine founder at a food sustainability summit in 2017, edralin reconnects with the green bronx machine team four years later to learn how the organization has addressed rising hunger rates and navigated a challenging learning environment, due to the pandemic.

want to learn more? watch her video above, and check out edralin’s story about the green bronx machine.

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special thanks to the planet forward team and heidi estrada for assisting with the filming and production of this video.

specifically, edralin wanted to focus on food insecurity within the context of covid-19. her piece profiled the green bronx machine, a nonprofit organization that seeks to build healthy, equitable, and resilient communities through inspired education, local food systems, and workforce development.

edralin had pitched the topic for her short documentary because she had crossed paths with the founder of the green bronx machine at a conference in milan, italy, years ago and decided to reach out to see how they were handling the covid-19 pandemic in their classrooms.

the process of completing this film took about two months. we had to reshoot a lot because of minor details we would notice after we’d reviewed our footage, so this process required us to pay close attention to detail — and utilize a lot of patience! however, looking back now, we’re glad we took our time with it.

there’s a lot more to creating a documentary than just picking up a camera; creating a documentary is an art form that has a long process, but the final product is worth the effort. 

in addition, she believes in the importance of crop rotation as well as leaving parts of her farm alone, not cropping, so the natural environment can take shape and replenish the earth. it takes an entire community to be involved and passionate about where they get their food from for these things to continue to change. so as discussions of sustainability progress the connection between local farms, local communities, and their environment must be at the forefront. 

it was a windy, bright afternoon in march when i visited the smith elementary in south austin. the first thing that struck me was its size. upwards of twenty beds — some wooden, some cinder-block, some stone-cobbled, surrounded a large shade structure and a picnic table. invasive bermuda grass gained a firm grasp on many beds, and many shrubs were brown from february’s freeze. “i’ve got lots of weeding to do out here, obviously,” studebaker said, scrutinizing her domain. i, on the other hand, was enchanted. mustang grape vines with brown, gnarled stems surrounded the fenced-off garden. bumblebees buzzed lazily between dandelions. pear and apple blossoms yawned open in the warm air. studebaker told me that last fall, pumpkins plants from discarded halloween seeds overran the garden’s compost pile. when i visited, the grapevine was beginning to green, and so were many of the seemingly-dead plants. studebaker would pull back brown stems, and with a “wait wait wait is it green?” or a “okay, look at this!” point out barely-visible green popping from the plant base. i felt like i’d stepped into frances hodgson burnett’s secret garden: “it seemed almost like being shut out of the world in some fairy place.” 

***

the smith elementary school garden is one of hundreds of gardens that a nonprofit group called the green corn project has implemented in austin over the 23 years of the nonprofit’s existence. “i always like to say that green corn was urban gardening before it was cool,” said brooke leterelle, green corn’s program coordinator. thinking back on the hundred of beds raised by the organization, she added, “that’s a lot of good-feelin’ stuff –– a lot of food. it’s a lot of happiness.” green corn’s garden clients come from all stages of life — from senior citizens to parents to preschoolers. but what their clients all have in common is that they have difficulty accessing fresh, healthy food. “we’re growing food in a food desert, basically,” added leterelle. 

a food desert is a place where people don’t have access to fresh produce –– whether it be in a low-income city neighborhood surrounded by fast-food stands, or a rural town without stocked grocery stores. this may lead many to suffer from life-threatening diseases such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. studies have shown that food deserts disproportionately affect low-income and minority populations. according to a study at the university of texas at austin, access to reliable transportation plays a big role — in auto-centric austin, families without access cars are especially vulnerable. green corn sought to shift that paradigm. “it’s harder to change larger systems,” said leterelle, but “green corn dives right in there… the repercussions are multiplied with a successful garden, because it makes you feel good, the healthiest food that you eat is the stuff that you grow and you’re not paying money for it.” 

the green corn volunteers directly target their clients, setting up booths at other nonprofits like the central texas food bank and coats for kids. there, green corn volunteers are able to explain their mission and potential clients have the opportunity to fill out a garden request form. then, each spring and fall, volunteers set out to about 50-60 sites per season for “dig-ins,” where they amend existing gardens and create new ones –– turning “grass to garden,” as letterele puts it.

“i think the hardest part about gardening is the starting part,” she said. “i like that we come in and take that off their plate.”

the benefits to their clients have been astounding. some have been with green corn for years, and are now gardening experts, feeding their family and neighbors. letterele has become a close friend of many clients, and through building a community, she is able to lift up those around her. letterele told me of one mother she worked with a few days ago who didn’t know what a seed looked like. a few hours later, she was pressing lettuce seeds into the earth, and telling letterle all about it. “it’s that simple education –– those simple things that just click once you have a little bit of information… it makes people happy to have their hands in the dirt and to watch something grow. you get to care for something.”

perhaps the most compounded benefit of green corn comes with school gardens. “those gardens that reach multiple people –– the wonderful impact of them is just magnified,” said letterele. green corn has helped install over a dozen school gardens in the austin area. studebaker serves a dual role as both a green corn volunteer and an after-school teacher at smith, a role she acquired after green corn became involved with the school. in the after-school program, she teaches students about everything from seasonal plantings to monarch migrations to the ethics of reduce, reuse, and recycle. they collect bugs, cook healthy food, and examine wildlife scat (hopefully not while cooking). “it gives them a chance to learn more about the outdoors and wildlife and the various little beings that we all share the planet with,” said studebaker.

“we’re in a place where we’re wanting to do some growing and expanding,” said studebaker, “getting more involved with helping create local food systems in low income communities.” green corn is looking to pair with the training kitchen, a community-hub in south austin, and work with them to create an even bigger demo-garden in which to train their volunteers. they hope to expand their client-base even further, reaching even more low-income homes and schools. letterele also aims to check in more regularly on their clients. “starting out… is one thing, but confidently gardening is another. we want to be there to make sure that our gardeners are confident… solving problems before they even have them.” 

**

when the green corn project was first starting out in the late ’90s, one of the founders happened upon an article about a creek indian celebration called the green corn festival, held once a year when the first green shoots of corn appear in spring. it is a way of thanking mother nature for last season’s harvest, and of celebrating the sight of new growth in spring. “as gardeners,” said letterele, “we’re supporting life and little ecosystems. so i think it’s a very well-rounded name for us.” but studebaker wasn’t so sure. “we need to at least be growing some corn somewhere!” she exclaimed. “how can we be called this and we never plant corn?” 

that march afternoon, studebaker and i decided to do just that. we got two packets of corn seeds and went to work. the wind had died down, and i could feel the cloudless heat pressing on my neck. i filled my left hand with shriveled yellow corn seeds, and with my right, i created a line-like crevasse in the earth. i pressed each seed six inches apart, then sprinkled them with a nutrient-rich compost mixture. a mocking bird warbled away, watching us as we worked. studebaker mentioned that after years spent in the same garden, animals began to recognize her. they’d keep her company as she reaped and sowed. i felt compelled, suddenly, to give thanks for this afternoon in nature’s fine blush of spring. i looked down at the corn kernel, golden-yellow and ripe with the promise of life, and pressed it into the earth.

i sat down with powers to discuss how groups are addressing the ​effects​ of the covid-19 pandemic on food insecurity, as well as how sustainability can be prioritized in the country’s response. 

she explained that after the 2007-08 recession, it took the united states 10 years to reach​ pre-recession numbers. as we are now seeing a “tremendous ​uptick​” due to the pandemic it will, at minimum, take government programs, good agricultural practices, and the work of charitable organizations to respond to the nation’s current level of need, she said.  

over the past year, immigrants and minorities who already were experiencing food insecurity or on the brink of becoming food insecure, were barred from necessary governmental supports during the pandemic. immigrants recently were denied access to federally funded programs with the implementation of the “public charge” rule. this rule states that visas and green cards can be denied to those who use or may eventually be in need of federally funded services. this caused fear for many immigrants and forced them to struggle through the pandemic without using government supports.

haley truan, farm-to-school and community interim directory at reap food group, explains that they recognized the consequences that the covid-19 pandemic would have on the latino/indigenous communities during a zoom meeting with roots4change, a cooperative led by immigrant women. “ninety-two percent of latino families with at least one child are food insecure…so many families are on the brink,” truan said. this plus the implementation of the “charge rule” put latino communities at immense risk of malnutrition during the pandemic. reap food group and roots4change knew that something needed to be done, so they went to the community for answers. their teamwork and open communication allowed them to come up with a solution that has fed 200 families each week and created several jobs during a time when food access and jobs are increasingly limited.

“it’s mind-blowing that our government didn’t respond to (this) crisis,” truan said about the food access epidemic among latino and indigenous communities. “we have not created a sustainable food system, and it will take community-led initiatives to combat shocks like the covid-19 pandemic or climate change.” recognizing that something had to be done about this crisis immediately, reap food group and roots4 change started the farms to families initiative with hopes to alleviate the burden on the latino and indigenous community, create new jobs, and support local farmers and businesses during the covid-19 pandemic.

roots4change, being members of the latino/indigenous community themselves, wanted to ensure that the recipients got the food and resources that they needed. they asked other members of the community what would be most helpful, and the response was unanimous. “we don’t have a voice,” shared one woman, and many others agreed.

roots4change and reap food group needed to make sure that the community they were hoping to help were a part of the conversation.

“we want to help create a better community,” truan said. this means that the food distributed must be culturally appropriate, ethically sourced, and packaged and delivered by members within the community.

another group that has historically been more prone to food insecurity is college students, and students at the university of wisconsin-madison are no exception to this trend. unfortunately, the pandemic left many students unemployed, hungry, and with little support. while much of the u.s. population received governmental support during the pandemic, most college students were left empty-handed. many college students were deprived access to the stimulus checks that came from the cares act due to being claimed as a dependent and being over the age of 17. luckily, students at uw-madison have several resources to help them access healthy and nutritious food, including the uw campus food shed.

the uw campus food shed was started in 2017 by undergraduate hayden porter and professor irwin goldman. this student-professor duo realized that so many vegetables used in research projects were being wasted, while at the same time, so many students at the university weren’t getting a balanced diet.

raven hall, a senior at uw-madison and co-president of the uw campus food shed explains why food insecurity on a college campus is such a big deal. “how are we, as future leaders of the world, supposed to reach our academic potential when we’re not receiving the nutrition that we need for brain function?” hall said.

the pandemic caused even more students to wonder where their next nutritious meal would come from. consequently, it also posed challenges for the distribution of food. “it’s been hard to get us up and running again,” hall said. she noted that many of the food shed’s regular volunteers are now spread throughout the world, taking classes online. additionally, hall said, “it’s particularly difficult being a student organization involved in food redistribution, because with covid, people are being really, really careful and need to be careful about what they’re touching…” she goes on to explain that this has put students in a vulnerable position and has caused the uw campus food shed to find creative solutions.

hall and others want to unify the food community to raise awareness and tackle problems together. “…how can we connect our resources and actually solve these problems?” hall said. she explains that there is a disconnect among professors, students, and organizations that are all working on the same issues. “we’re not getting anywhere because everybody is stepping on each other’s toes trying to solve the same problem.” hall believes this can be solved by creating a space where everyone can come together as a community to enact change.

while truan and hall are working to improve different areas of food security in madison, their approach is the same. both women understand that the solution to improving our food system is to come together as a community. we are all working on these issues, so why not work on them together?

however, the adirondack north country association came up with a creative way to combat food insecurity within the north country. how, you ask? cycling! bike the barns is an event organized by the anca. this event involves the selection of a scenic bike route within the adirondack state park of new york. cyclists pay a fee to register for this ride, and the income made from registrations is used to provide locally grown food shares to impoverished families.  these rides vary in length from 10 to 70 miles. along the ride there are stops to multiple diverse small scale local farms, in which you are given a farm tour and the opportunity to converse with the farm owner and other riders. having the opportunity to see a window into these people’s lives and to observe the power of the local food movement was incredible. 

the bike the barns event is an extremely creative way to provide relief to individuals who experience food deserts and food insecurity, but how do we make progress on this issue on a larger scale? below are some more ideas on how to combat food insecurity on both a local and broader level. 
 

1. volunteer.

2. start a food drive.

3. support local or grassroots food movements.

4. grow a garden to contribute toward a food shelf. (check out the “plant a row for the hungry” movement.)

5. provide food education programs.

6. contact state and local governments and ask about their food policies. 

7. if possible, cut down on meat consumption.

8. support no waste policies for restaurants and grocery stores.