Photo from the BIPOC Land and Food Sovereignty Fund. The SUSU Healing Collective is organizing this fundraiser.

NOFA-VT: Where we’re going, and how to get there

An update from NOFA-Vermont:

 

NOFA-VT logoBoth the pandemic and the Movement for Black Lives are asking that we get to work in through bold, collaborative efforts towards a healed future. We have the opportunity to emerge stronger, and to deepen our commitment to equity and justice. In order to move with intention and purpose through this period of enormous change towards these goals, we are very excited to share that we have created a plan for an “Agriculturally Resilient, Emergency Ready” Vermont. In it, we share our vision of what a thriving agriCULTURE looks like, along with some short-, mid- and long-term steps to get there. This is one part of the blueprint that is needed to respond to the current crisis and course correct towards a better future.

At the intersection of racial justice and agriculture, Vermont’s farmers keep showing up! A team of growers from Rutland County has been collaborating with restaurants, food shelves, and soup kitchens in NYC that are dishing out thousands of meals to organizers and activists in the Movement for Black Lives. In the farmers’ words, “We are doing this as an act of support and solidarity, to share some of our resources and goodwill as Vermonters and farmers, with our greater human community that could really use our support right now.” You can support them here.

"There is no liberation without community"

In Brattleboro, a collective of farmers is running a campaign to secure land: “Visioning a sustainable, food secure future for our people, we are looking for ways to cultivate food ourselves. A future where Black and brown people in Vermont can come together to live, heal and thrive.” Support their critical effort and simultaneously invest in a diverse and thriving future for Vermont.

 

 

Mariah Gladstone stirring food

Mariah Gladstone. Photo from NOFA-VT.

Mariah Gladstone is the creator of Indigikitchen, an online cooking platform that aims to revitalize and re-imagine Native foods. Gladstone was named a “25 Under 25 Leader in Indian Country” and a “Champion for Change” by the Center for Native American Youth. In a conversation with NOFA-VT ‘s Grace Oedel, she discusses food sovereignty, the connections to health, identity, and political sovereignty, and how agriculture can be a catalyst of culture change. Watch the interview »