Food System Transformation | Nutrient Dense Food | Food Justice, Equity, and Sovereignty | Redesigned Local/Regional Food Systems |
Learn from indigenous foodways
- Follow the work of the Nolumbeka Project to propogate gardens based on traditional crops and cultivation methods, currently practiced in the Heritage Three Sisters Circle Garden in Northfield.
- Read Braiding Sweetgrass: indigenous wisdom, scientific knowledge, and the teachings of plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer (2020 and earlier editions available from CWMARS libraries) or Leah Penniman’s sidebars about African traditions in Farming While Black.
- Watch Gather (2020) “Gather is an intimate portrait of the growing movement amongst Native Americans to reclaim their spiritual, political and cultural identities through food sovereignty, while battling the trauma of centuries of genocide.”
- See what Survival International says in “Why the New Deal for Nature is a disaster for people and planet,” an analysis of how industrial agriculture decimates subsistence living for traditional communities.
Unpack the racism in the food system
- Check out the Food First series “Dismantling Racism in the food system” with the article Food—Systems—Racism: From Mistreatment to Transformation By Eric Holt-Giménez and Breeze Harpe (2016)
- Support reparations of land and resources for Black-Indigenous Farmers through the work of Soul Fire Farm, the Northeast Farmers of Color Network and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance. See the project map.
Promote agricultural worker autonomy

“The Agricultural Justice Project (AJP) works to transform the existing agricultural and food system into one based on empowerment, justice and fairness for all who labor from farm to retail.”
- Farmers & all food system workers’ rights to freedom of association
- Fair wages and benefits for workers
- Fair and equitable contracts for farmers and buyers
- Fair pricing for farmers
- Clear conflict resolution policies for farmers, workers, and buyers
- The rights of indigenous peoples (under development)
- Workplace health and safety and decent farmworker housing
- High quality training for farm interns and apprentices
- The rights and protection of children on farms
- Protection of the environment (organic and sustainable farming practices)