Food Security

The Commons Economy Reloaded

December 7, 2024 Malikia Johnson, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Food Security, Neighborhoods, The Commons, Zero waste

The world seems to have one devastating event after another, and the urgency to strengthen relationships, support one another, and fulfill each other’s needs outside of institutions feels more and more relevant. Many of the solutions offered by elected officials are mired with bureaucracy and lack innovation. In addition, those solutions remove agency from citizens and place it into the hands of institutions that don’t value community needs. It feels poignant to remind us of important work that a few GEO members did during Trump’s last presidency.

Agricultural Design Studio Working To Build A Food-Sovereign Detroit

November 14, 2024 Samya Overall, Next City. Create! Agriculture, Detroit, Food Security, Food Sovereignty, Urban Farming

Driving down Monterey Street on Detroit’s westside, there are more abandoned and vacant houses than occupied ones. Sidewalks are overgrown with grass, and stretches of land as long as football fields separate the homes that remain. About midway down the block, between Wildemere and Lawton streets, is Fennigan’s Farms. You can’t miss it from the tall towers of bright yellow sunflowers waving in the wind. As you walk up, there’s a table with tomatoes and a sign that reads “Free Produce.” Amanda Brezzell is the co-founder and creative director at Fennigan’s Farms. Brezzell says the farm and design firm’s mission is to be a resource to the community, helping Detroiters achieve food sovereignty by providing fresh, accessible food, some at no cost.

The Globalized, Industrialized Food System Is Destroying The World

November 4, 2024 Helena Norberg-Hodge, Counter Punch. Create! climate crisis, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Local Economies

We can thank small farmers, environmentalists, academic researchers, and food and farming activists for advancing ecologically sound food production methods. Agroecology, holistic resource management, permaculture, and other methods can address many of the global food system’s worst impacts, including biodiversity loss, energy depletion, toxic pollution, food insecurity, and massive carbon emissions. These inspiring testaments to human ingenuity and goodwill have two things in common: They involve smaller-scale farms adapted to local conditions and depend more on human attention and care than energy and technology.

How To Build An Ecological Economy

October 30, 2024 Patrick Mazza, Resilience. Create! Communities, Community, De-growth, Food Security, Green Economy

This is the second part of a scenario for how a city comes together to address the multiple economic, social and environmental crises facing our world. The first part of the scenario is here. It covers how the city creates basic frameworks of life. How it gains control of its own finances and local economy through creating a public bank. How it ensures everyone has shelter through creation of social and community housing. How clean energy is supplied while energy use is reduced through creation of community energy cooperatives. In this part, the scenario will cover how the city develops the basics of an ecological economy not dependent on endless economic growth.

Five Ways Permaculture Must Change

July 22, 2024 The Last Farm, Resilience. Create! Environment, Food Security, Invasive species, Permaculture, Science

I’ve been a permaculture enthusiast for over 25 years. It has influenced my thinking about ecology, subsistence, and the role of human beings in our biosphere. I have experimented with countless techniques, read dozens of books, and learned a wealth of things from other practitioners. I regard it as an overwhelmingly positive experience. That said, there have always been aspects of permaculture that haven’t sat right with me. This is made somewhat complicated by the fact that there are different strains of permaculture which lean in different directions; some I have more affinity with than others (I’m oriented towards science rather than mysticism.)

The Transformative Power Of Urban Recipe’s Food Co-Op Model

July 18, 2024 BobJones, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Atlanta, Cooperatives, Food Coop, Food Security

It is 10 a.m. on a Monday morning, and the warehouse at 970 Jefferson Street in Atlanta is humming with activity. A forklift loads a pallet of cereal boxes. Two men are setting up a line of folding tables. Several people casually sort a box of bananas into grocery bags. Fog escapes from a walk-in freezer as someone rolls a dolly filled with boxes toward the line of tables. Five or six people walk in from the bus stop with rolling grocery carts. In the center of the bustling warehouse, JoAnn Crowder stands behind a desk with her clipboard, quietly orchestrating the hustle. For the last 24 years, JoAnn has spent almost every other Monday morning here.

Urban Farms Are A Lifeline For Food-Insecure Residents

July 15, 2024 Kimberly Izar, Next City. Create! Food and Agriculture, Food Security, New Jersey (NJ), Urban Agriculture

In Montclair’s Third Ward is a tiny farm with big community value. In the summertime, Montclair Community Farms transforms its less-than-10,000-square-foot lot into a space with something for everyone: a garden education program for children, a job training site for teens, and a pop-up produce market for Essex County residents. “People really love being here,” says Lana Mustafa, executive director of Montclair Community Farms. “It’s really developed into something really beautiful and productive and community-oriented.” On a breezy afternoon in early June, bunches of lettuce, bok choy, parsley, and garlic scapes begin to sprout and ripen. Some are even ready to harvest. Mustafa and her team are preparing inventory for their Monday farmers market, where several dozen shoppers use their SNAP or WIC benefits to buy fresh produce.

A Mobile Food Pantry Meets Refugees Where They Are

April 7, 2024 Marielle Argueza, Next City. Organize! Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Immigration, North Carolina, Refugees

It started at a kitchen table more than 15 years ago. In 2008, Greensboro mother of two Kristy Milholin noticed signs of food insecurity among her daughters’ classmates at Morehead Elementary School. She and her husband, Don Milholin, took it upon themselves to pack up bags of free food for several local families every Friday. “She went into mom mode. She couldn’t see kids go hungry,” says Beth Crise, who is the president and executive director of Out of the Garden project, the nonprofit that the Milholins founded after receiving increased requests from families in need.

Urban Agriculture In The Heart Of Caracas

April 5, 2024 Cira Pascual Marquina, Venezuelanalysis. Create! Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Urban Agriculture, Venezuela

Urban agriculture gardens, inspired by methods developed during Cuba’s special period, are being used to promote food security in Venezuela.

The Israeli Agricultural Industry: A Strategic Weakness

April 4, 2024 Batoul Suleiman, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Al-Aqsa Flood, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Israel, Neoliberalism, Palestine

Since the beginning of the brutal war waged by the Zionist enemy on Gaza, the agricultural industry in the Zionist entity has witnessed a significant shortage of agricultural labor. The Israeli government issued a decree prohibiting Palestinian workers—some of whom work in the agricultural sector—from entering the Occupied Territories. This was accompanied by the departure of around 8,000 Thai workers from the Occupied Territories at the beginning of the war. This crisis posed a challenge for Zionist farmers, especially in the Gaza Envelope.

Moving Into The Agrihood

March 19, 2024 Kirsten Lie-Nielsen, Modern Farmer. Create! Agrihood, Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Planned Communities, South Carolina

Outside of Charleston, South Carolina, in the picturesque marshes of the Kiawah River, sits more than 100 acres of working farmland. Seasonal crops rotate through expansive pastures, cattle graze the rich sea grasses and several colonies of bees hurry about their business. But unlike neighboring farms that focus on production for faraway markets or keep a single family afloat, the farm at Kiawah River is supporting 185 families who live in the surrounding homes. Kiawah River is an “agrihood”—a planned community with a working farm at its center.

The Case For Universal Basic Food

March 16, 2024 Emily Settlecowski, Next City. Create! Food and Agriculture, food justice, Food Security, Health Care, Human Rights

Food is many things in our lives. It’s a cultural connector, bridging relationships with people, places, and our heritage. Food is medicine, providing us with nutrients integral to our well-being. It’s also a renewable resource; the way we grow, transport and consume food directly impacts our climate and local environment. Above all, food is a human right. Yet our food system only values food for one thing: profit. It’s become an industrialized machine that prioritizes cheap production and corporate gains over the well-being of people, local economies, and the environment. In this pursuit of maximum financial gain, food has been reduced to a mere commodity.

Native Seed Network Takes Root In The Northeast

March 9, 2024 Eve Allen, Resilience.org. Create! Food and Agriculture, Food Security, Northeast, Seed bank

Land managers and restoration practitioners have long been concerned about the scarcity of native seeds required for restoring ecosystems. Whether sourced from soil seed banks, existing native plant populations or commercial vendors, the demand for native seeds consistently outstrips the available supply. In January 2023, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine released a 228-page report, underscoring the urgent need to increase native seed supplies to restore damaged ecosystems in the United States.

Other Avenues Grocery Cooperative

March 6, 2024 Storied: San Francisco, Grassroots Economic Organizing. Create! Cooperatives, Food Security, San Francisco, Worker Rights

From a collection of neighborhood clubs called the Food Conspiracy, whose motto was, "If you can't walk to Food Conspiracy, it's time for a new Food Conspiracy," to the People's Food System, which included Other Avenues, Rainbow Grocery, Veritable Vegetable, and other co-ops that don't exist anymore, there's proof all over today that cooperative models work. We like the sound of that, in fact, compared to competitive businesses. Other Avenues' doors opened in 1974. By 1987, a hybrid system of worker and community management was adopted. And the worker-owned model that exists today started back in 1999.

How Do You Buy Groceries When There’s No Grocery Store?

October 29, 2023 Kennedy Smith, ILSR.org. Create! Food and Agriculture, Food Deserts, Food Security, Grocery Stores

When a new mobile grocery market launched in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, its first stop was Maple City Apartments, a 40-unit complex for low-income, elderly relatives. Maple City’s residents have felt the region’s lack of grocery stores acutely. The nearest full-service grocery store is at least five miles away,[1] which leaves few options for people who don’t have access to a car or good public transit. But the County’s residents can now buy groceries from a farmers market on wheels. It started when the Cooperage Project, a regional nonprofit organization, wanted to get fresh, healthy food to people during the pandemic, rather than having them settle for the shelf-stable, highly processed options that chain dollar stores offer.

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