Author: Agrarian Trust

Going Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources

Going Beyond Diversity and Inclusion in Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources

In many of my roles as a food, agriculture, and natural resources practitioner, student, and researcher, I noticed my uniqueness in these spaces I was aiming to belong: nonprofits, higher education research offices, federal offices, agricultural advocacy groups, food policy councils, and others. I was often the only woman of color, the only immigrant, and the youngest person in the room. A lack of diversity in these fields was very apparent. This motivated me to work towards making traditionally underrepresented individuals in these fields more visible, starting with me.

We’re Hiring: Database and Relationship Manager

We’re Hiring: Database and Relationship Manager

Agrarian Trust is creating a local Agrarian Commons (through establishing 501c2 land-holding entities) in regions across the United States. These Agrarian Commons will hold land to support: land access and tenure for the next generation of farmers, community equity and self-determination, shared stewardship of soils and ecological diversity, and opportunities for deep relationships to the land, each other, and community.

This Land Is Your Land

This Land Is Your Land

Imagine arriving in a new country as a refugee after spending years in a refugee camp in another country as an asylum seeker and then being given three months to achieve “self-sufficiency” in your new host country. Your hands and mind are restless for work. Maybe you were a farm hand, a farm owner, a food entrepreneur, or something else in your home country. Now that you are given a fresh start in a new country, what opportunities do you seek? Is agriculture even an option? For many, it is and it’s the only one that makes sense.

Los Herederos de la Tierra, The Heirs of The Land

Los Herederos de la Tierra, The Heirs of The Land

As I set foot in the lands that belong to my grandmother that she is currently renting out, I don’t recognize that land anymore. The tenant is growing yuca, or cassava. We never grew that while the land was under our management. Growing up, we would visit my grandma’s conuco in the countryside, the farm field or plantation with plantain trees, and some fruit trees and plants like grapefruit and sugar cane. I would run around picking up flowers and cherry tomatoes growing unchecked in the field. It’s thirty tareas in the Dominican land measuring system, or almost two hectares in Hato Viejo, Cayetano Germosen, Espaillat, Dominican Republic.

Truthout: A Green New Deal Must Prioritize Regenerative Agriculture

Truthout: A Green New Deal Must Prioritize Regenerative Agriculture

“Agrarian Trust, a nonprofit committed to supporting land access for the next generation of farmers, is experimenting with community-controlled land commons to collectively and democratically own the land, while giving 99-year leases to regenerative farmers. This model prioritizes broader community involvement and investment in local farms, while giving farmers long-term land security and equity interests so that they can fully commit to restoring the land over many decades.”

Land and Water: A Long Term Perspective

Land and Water: A Long Term Perspective

In the context of global warming, issues of access to land and water have been revived at a moment of disappearing land, mass migration, foreclosures, evictions, rent hikes, land grabs, and the privatization of clean water. We believe that now is a vital moment for academics and activists to enter a shared conversation about control and access to land and water, naming the most formidable challenges, the utopian models, and the important historical analogues for our present moment.