Equity is central to USDA achieving its mission and core priority to tackle food and nutrition insecurity. As such, USDA’s Patrick Leahy Farm to School Program is committed to identifying and rooting out systemic discrimination, ensuring equitable access to programs and services, promoting nutrition security and a healthy environment, and creating opportunity for all.
Our Farm to School Program activities like local food procurement and food and agricultural education help build equitable food systems. When sourcing local, schools can buy from an array of producers, such as small- and medium-sized producers and producers of color, which creates economic opportunities for often underserved producers and strengthens the communities where they live. A variety of our grantees are using food and agricultural education, including food production in school gardens, to address equity in environmental stewardship, food history and origins, and nutrition, plus they are introducing diverse cultures through food preparation and tasting.
The Harmony Hill School is therapeutic residential and day treatment program in rural Rhode Island that offers programming and services to boys ages 8-18 years old with social, emotional, behavioral and learning needs. They are using their fiscal year 2024 USDA Farm to School Grant to refurbish a greenhouse and four large garden beds to support year-round growing and harvesting on the school’s 100-acre property. Their Horticulture Program will allow students and staff to sell produce and plants grown by the students to the surrounding communities.
Our Farm to School Program team is excited to partner with National Farm to School Network through a cooperative agreement. One of their assets we are most excited about is their Racial Equity Learning Lab, also known the Lab. For years, the Lab has been increasing the farm to school movement’s understanding of racial equity and building equity in the food system. Some of their efforts include bringing together participants from across the nation to learn, discuss and practice racial equity concepts. The Lab’s collective effort has truly deepened participants’ understanding and support for racial equity through farm to school. And we are thrilled for how it will help us further foster our growth in accelerating equity.
Lab Participant Experience: Tracey Kimura
Tracey Kimura, a regional producer engagement specialist from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, also known as CDFA, recently participated in the Lab and shared about that experience and its impact on equity work.
Kimura's current role at CDFA includes developing relationships with producers to enhance their farm to school capacity, including increasing direct sales relationships with districts and other institutional partners. This work can grow equity in the communities these producers serve by increasing access to healthy foods and hands-on learning and by building social and financial capital and a stronger food system.
“I really wanted to develop knowledge, tools, skills, relationships, and credibility to address equity both internally and externally,” said Kimura. Participating in The Lab connected Kimura with others interested in building equity in farm to school, like farmers, educators and organizers. The unique co-creation and peer-learning processes allowed Kimura to share personal experiences and to learn, discuss and practice racial equity concepts in real time, including practicing facilitating equity conversations.
The Lab boosted Kimura’s confidence and inspired the CDFA team to explore piloting a similar learning lab with their grantees. “I was inspired and encouraged to start learning to preserve the history and memory of my own culture,” said Kimura, who is of Okinawan heritage. Kimura is now learning and practicing Uchināguchi, a critically endangered Okinawan language.
The Lab also reinforced many of Kimura’s beliefs and concepts about work and personal life, including cultivating authentic relationships based on mutual respect and trust and advocating for language justice. Kimura is bilingual in part because of strong relationships built with monolingual Spanish-speaking mothers supporting school and community gardens, and this experience has translated into deep support for those with language skills beyond English. At CDFA, Kimura and colleagues championed increased pay for bilingual staff and helped start a bilingual staff collective to advance language equity further.
We are grateful to Tracey Kimura for sharing about this equity journey through the Lab!
For all who are beginning or continuing their equity work in farm to school, Nifee debiru (thank you)! Make sure to visit the Racial Equity Learning Lab to follow the Lab and Equity at USDA for more information on USDA’s progress.