E106: Behind the Scenes of LA’s Good Food Zone Policy

January 14, 2021

In today’s episode, we’re digging into the Good Food Zone Policy that will be implemented in Los Angeles, California. The goal is to expand access to healthy food in neighborhoods considered food deserts and to create economic opportunity and jobs for residents living on low incomes. If you follow food policy work, you’ll be interested in the Good Food Zone, food entrepreneurship and Community Development Framework. Guests in this podcast include three people deeply engaged in developing this place-based policy strategy: Ronnell Hampton, of the Los Angeles Food Policy Council, Samantha Salmon, of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, and Community Organizer and Media Specialist, Matt Sanderson.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Community & Economic Development | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Insecurity | Food Policy |

 

E101: Virginia Takes Equity Approach to Community Development Through Food

December 9, 2020

As the governments the world over try to solve the thorny issue of equitable food access in underserved communities, the state of Virginia is trying something new. Led by Dr Jewel Bronaugh, the only black woman agriculture commissioner in the United States, Virginia passed legislation this spring, to establish something very special: The Virginia Food Access Investment Program and Fund which will give communities grants to create food businesses.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Food Policy |

 

E82: Rediscovering Navajo Indigenous Agricultural Wisdom

July 28, 2020

There’s a great deal to learn from the deep connections between regenerative agriculture and the farming traditions of First Nations people. My guest today is James Skeet, a member of the Navajo Nation and the founder of Spirit Farm in New Mexico, a demonstration farm that draws both Native Americans and others to learn more about issues like composting and regenerative farming techniques.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Community & Economic Development | Diet & Nutrition | Equity, Race & Food Justice | First Nations Food Issues | Regenerative Agriculture |

 

E21: Colby Duren on Challenges to First Nations Food Sovereignty

April 15, 2019

Extreme poverty, the loss of fertile lands, and lack of access to traditional foods have caused many Native Americans to suffer from diet related problems, including food insecurity, obesity and diabetes in stunning numbers. Nearly 16% of Native Americans, for example, live with type two diabetes, more than double the percentage of Caucasians. These are but some of the challenges that occupy our guest, attorney Colby Duren.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development | Equity, Race & Food Justice | First Nations Food Issues |

 

E22: Heber Brown on Organizing Communities Around Their Food

March 12, 2019

In the US food system, communities of color suffer disproportionately from lack of access to affordable, nutritious food. But what happens when you connect growers with their communities? Or when communities grow their own food on Church owned land? In Baltimore, Maryland, and along the I-95 corridor in the southeast United States, you can see this happening through the Black Church Food Security Network. Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Dr. Heber Brown, who founded this network with the goal of helping churches to grow their own food on church-owned land, and to partner black farmers and urban growers with historically African American congregations to create pipelines for fresh produce.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development | Equity, Race & Food Justice | Faith & Food | Food Insecurity |

 

E20: Darriel Harris on Harnessing Faith to Improve Community Health

Can you make sustainable changes in community or neighborhood health without tackling the issue of food and diet? Why is such work so difficult? What is the role of churches and other faith organizations? Our next guest on The Leading Voices in Food is Reverend Darriel Harris and he works on this problem in a variety of ways.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development | Diet & Nutrition | Faith & Food | Food Insecurity |

 

E12: Renske Lynde on Cultivating Food System Entrepreneurs for Impact

February 8, 2019

Imagine if the focus of your work was to identify the most promising entrepreneurs, those who could potentially develop transformative and scalable food and agriculture solutions. Imagine working closely with those entrepreneurs as their ideas blossom and their businesses develop, promote organic gardening effort to tackle food insecurity and Silicon Valley to accompany that converts organic waste in the compostable bioplastic. How fun would this be? Such is the work of Renske Lynde, director of Food Systems 6, a nonprofit California public benefit corporation based in the San Francisco Bay area, whose mission is to support promising entrepreneurs who want to transform how we grow, produce and distribute food.

Related podcasts: Community & Economic Development |

 

E11: Kornegay Farms’ Kim LeQuire on the Blessings of a Life in Agriculture

February 7, 2019

Has the buy local food movement helped farmers and open up new markets? Is organic farming really better than conventional farming? And what does it take to run a successful farming operation? We’ll discuss these topics and more with today’s guest Kim LeQuire. Kim runs Kornegay Family Farms along with her father Danny, mother Susie and brother Dan. Kornegay Family Farms is a 5,000 acre, fourth generation farm in Johnston County, North Carolina. The Kornegay’s grow sweet potatoes, tobacco, soybeans, cotton, wheat, and peanuts. The also run four swine finishing floors.

Related podcasts: Agriculture & Tech | Community & Economic Development | North Carolina | Voice of Farming |

 

E15: Hisham Moharram Talks Agripreneurship and The Good Tree

January 9, 2019

Hisham Moharram describes himself as an agripreneur and an environmental and social justice activist. His life’s goal is to establish a local food economy and to show people that we can produce food with environmental stewardship and faith-based agribusiness at the core.

Related podcasts: Advocacy & Food | Agriculture & Tech | Community & Economic Development | Faith & Food |