March 27, 2020 5:39 PM EDT
The rapid spread of COVID-19, with confirmed US cases now nearing 100,000, is forcing the federal government to confront some stark realities. Notably, the pandemic has pulled back the curtain on the US food system and the millions of workers behind it—and in the process, has underscored the need for the basic rights many farm and food workers have been fighting for all along. Read more >
January 31, 2019 11:47 AM EDT
Most of us wish we could eat with the confidence that everything on our plate has a story we can feel good about, a story about taking care of both people and the environment. In the food system (as elsewhere) these twin issues, justice and sustainability, have often been talked about as if they were unrelated, independent problems with separate solutions. Read more >
January 18, 2019 1:14 PM EDT
On April 29th of 1968, Reverend Ralph David Abernathy visited the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to talk about food and farming. And with the list of demands he carried, the Reverend brought with him the voice of the late Dr. King, assassinated just one month prior, and of many thousands of others—including farmers who were denied land, families who were denied food, and people who were denied dignity. So what, exactly, did he ask of the Secretary of Agriculture? And fifty years later—are we still asking for the same things? Read more >
September 7, 2016 3:08 PM EDT
The call came early on Labor Day. Prisciliano Salvador, 92 years of age, had passed away overnight in his birthplace, the Zapotec community of Yatzachi el Bajo, Oaxaca, Mexico. My uncle was a peasant farmer in his younger years, and a farm laborer in the United States from 1944 until he retired and returned to Oaxaca. He is one of the many reasons I’m consumed with my work to improve the food system so that none of us have to rely on the exploitation of others to eat each day. Read more >
May 1, 2015 3:07 PM EDT
Two months ago I was in Baltimore for a conference focusing on healthy food access. Before the opening reception I squeezed in a run. With temperatures well below freezing, I ran down to the Harbor where the water was frozen and the cargo ships were still. There was hardly anyone in sight. I was amazed at the quietness blanketing the city. Read more >
