The Farm Bill—or as it could be called, the food and farm bill—is a federal law renewed every five years that governs our farm and food policy. The current farm bill is estimated to spend $428.3 billion over 5 years and it impacts virtually every part of the agriculture sector covering programs such as crop insurance for farmers, conservation efforts, healthy food access for low-income families, local and regional food programs, research, beginning farmer training, support for sustainable farming practices, and much more. The Farm Bill lays the groundwork for our food and farming efforts across New York State.
Congress is writing a new Farm Bill right now! The most recent Farm Bill, the Agricultural Act of 2018, expires September 2023. We now have an opportunity to reshape our food system through this legislation and build upon lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, which has continued to highlight the importance of local and regional food systems and supply chains as New York State recovers from the ongoing impacts of the pandemic.
To engage New Yorkers in shaping the 2023 Farm Bill, Equity Advocates, Black Farmers United NYS, and Food for the Spirit launched a collaborative statewide Farm Bill campaign beginning with developing a community-informed policy platform. They prioritized outreach to and participation of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) farmers, producers, & practitioners in NY State. They heard from over 300 New Yorkers who shared how the 2023 Farm Bill can better support them in terms of land access, urban agriculture, climate change, community food project funding, nutrition, local and regional food systems, and more. The resulting policy platform represents a collective voice from NYS community food leaders, farmers, gardeners, land stewards, producers, & advocates. Over the coming months, these groups will work together to elevate and mobilize voices from across New York to share their stories, experiences and policy priorities to advocate for a strong and equitable 2023 Farm Bill.
Join CFF and our co-sponsors for a briefing in which Equity Advocates and Food for the Spirit discuss the importance of the 2023 Farm Bill for New York food and farming efforts, their collaborative campaign and NYS Farm Bill Platform, the different ways they are working to build the advocacy capacity of their networks to participate in the campaign, and ways they can strengthen their advocacy efforts to ensure a 2023 Farm Bill that works for all.
What will you learn?
- The importance of the 2023 Farm Bill for NYS food and farming stakeholders, including the history, process and timeline of the legislation and its impact on New York State
- Background and overview of a collaborative statewide advocacy campaign, including the grassroots and grasstops strategies to engage diverse voices and stakeholders
- Descriptions and examples of the priorities in the Policy Platform that emerged when over 300 New Yorkers shared how the 2023 Farm Bill can better support them in terms of land access, urban agriculture, climate change, community food project funding, nutrition, local and regional food systems, and more
- How funders can support NYS Farm Bill campaign and grantees with their advocacy efforts
- Relevant grantee organizational capacities and needs in this organizing and advocacy work
Speakers
- Iyeshima Harris-Ouedraogo, Policy Manager, Equity Advocates
- Rebekah Williams, Co-Founder, Food for the Spirit
- Khadhazha Welch, Community Organizer, Equity Advocates
Who should attend?
All interested funders in grantmaking roles. What to expect: discussion followed by Q&A.
How do you sign up?
Registration is required by May 24th.
Members and Non-Member Funders: Please click on the "Register Now" link above. Dial-in and webinar information will be emailed to you before the webinar.
Please email register@philanthropynewyork.org with any questions.
What else should you know?
Equity Advocates is a NY-based nonprofit organization that builds the capacity of nonprofit organizations to address the underlying causes of food inequity through policy and systems change. We partner with New York-based organizations working to alleviate hunger and poverty, providing them with the tools they need to be more effective advocates—including policy education, advocacy training and coalition leadership. Through this work, we are building a non-partisan grassroots coalition of powerful advocates and leaders within the food movement. Premised on the belief that those most affected by a problem are best suited to drive solutions, we work primarily with community leaders and organizations most impacted by food inequity to ensure that they have a seat at the policy making table. The leaders of community food access nonprofits know better than anyone what problems need to be addressed and what local solutions are truly working to improve food equity. To advance grassroots advocacy solutions that ensure fresh, healthy food is accessible and affordable in marginalized communities, Equity Advocates partners with these nonprofit leaders and provides them with the policy and advocacy training and coalition leadership needed to ensure that policymakers are responsive to their needs. We put our community partners on the front lines of changing policy.
Food for the Spirit’s (F4tS) mission is to use the arts and creative facilitation to cultivate racial healing, ecological justice, and equitable food systems. We connect people with methods and strategies from national movement leaders and systems- thinkers to support the development of local communities. Racial justice in food systems and agriculture is an explicit part of our mission and we believe that people who are most impacted by issues of race and racism in the food system are most equipped to identify the issues and solutions to those issues. Therefore we center Black, Indigenous, Asian, Latinx, and other folks of color (BIPOC) in our organizing and planning efforts. We have developed two place-based networks for our constituents, the Buffalo Food Equity Network and the Genesee Valley Black Farmers, and we are currently developing a third network of BIPOC farmers across the state.