“This topic, I really believe is the closest connection that people have with the environment and nature – which is agriculture – we all need to eat.”
On Friday, May 21st, Pipa Elias kicked off the first event in Duke in DC’s virtual Beyond Talking Points series on environmental justice, Food & Agriculture: Who We Feed and How We Farm. The conversation was targeted towards federal policymakers to better understand how an environmental justice framework can be applied to food and agriculture policy. Elias, deputy director of the environment program at the Walton Family Foundation, facilitated a conversation with a group of nationally renowned academic and policy experts on food and agriculture.
The panel included Kelly D. Brownell, director of the World Food Policy Center at Duke University, Norbert L. W. Wilson, professor of food, economics and community at the Duke Divinity School and Corby Kummer, executive director of the food and society program at the Aspen Institute.
Norbert Wilson provided a frame for the conversation and the series by defining environmental justice stating, “It’s the confluence of economic disparities, health disparities and communities of color that we see food justice and environmental justice coming together.”
Kelly Brownell highlighted the importance of this broader framework for policymakers noting, “Certain areas of food policy that have previously been disconnected,” explained Brownell, “There is policy magic to be had at the intersection of these areas…there’s also a missed opportunity to build a stronger coalition of voices arguing for change if you can bring people and institutions across this area.”
The Federal Government’s Role: Past, Present and Future
Wilson touched on the importance of federal programs and real-world examples from being a recipient. Wilson credited the 4-H program as what got him involved in agriculture. “I went to predominately Black schools and by the time I was in middle or high school, we were all receiving free lunch… I went off to college and graduate school interested in agriculture because I had been a “4-H”-er for years.”
In terms of business and agriculture, the Aspen Institute’s Corby Kummer explained that “COVID-19 has exposed a lot of fault lines,” in terms of the brittleness of the supply chain, “the companies that were set up to supply big institutions suddenly lost their customers and they couldn’t repackage the goods to go into retail and supermarkets where the shelves were empty.”
Kummer listed several additional aspects of environmental justice in agriculture, including pollution from agricultural run-off, the redlining of farmlands which can lead to farmers pushed closer to hog farms and concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) industrial fans that are exhausting manure and other pollutants. He mentioned that while the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is aware of this, more steps should be taken.
Policy Solutions and Strengthening Relationships
Brownell highlighted the role of non-governmental organizations and non-profits in saying, “Institutions like universities can provide research support, technical support and communication capacity that the community organizations may not have, but the work needs to emanate from the communities.”
The group all emphasized that communities really need to invest time, in addition to financial investment. This “deeper investment” allows for those working in their own communities to see things through and deliver longer term, sustainable solutions for food and agriculture.
By Lizzie Devitt, 5/27/21