Why Food Is A Social Justice Issue with Leah Penniman

There’s a part of our food system that’s not being talked about: racial inequality. The division of land, government subsidies, and financial resources that are available favor white farmers. Meanwhile, many of our sustainable farming practices actually stem from African and indigenous roots. Since 1920 African-American farmers have lost over 14 million acres of land. Combine this with the fact that Black communities are also at a higher risk of illnesses due to a lack of access to fresh, nutritious food. It’s food apartheid. This week on The Doctor’s Farmacy I was joined by Leah Penniman to dig into the racial injustice that continues to smolder in our current food system. Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer, author, and food justice activist from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton, NY. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2010 with the mission to end racism in the food system and reclaim our ancestral connection to land. As Co-Executive Director, Leah is part of a team that facilitates powerful food sovereignty programs—including farmer training for Black and Brown people, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Her book, Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm's Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land is a love song for the land and her people. This episode of The Doctor’s Farmacy is brought to you by Joovv and Thrive Market. I always love checking out the latest science for anti-aging and recently I discovered Joovv, a red light therapy device. Red light therapy is a super gentle non-invasive treatment where a device with medical-grade LEDs delivers concentrated light to your skin. It actually helps your cells produce collagen so it improves skin tone and complexion, diminishes signs of aging like wrinkles, and speeds the healing of wounds and scars. To check out the Joovv products for yourself head over to joovv.com/farmacy. Once you’re there, you’ll see a special bonus the Joovv team is giving away to my listeners. Use the code FARMACY at checkout. Make sure to also check out Joovv's website for some special holiday deals while supplies last! Thrive Market has made it so easy for me to stay healthy, even with my intense travel schedule. Not only does Thrive offer 25 to 50% off all of my favorite brands, but they also give back. For every membership purchased, they give a membership to a family in need, and they make it easy to find the right membership for you and your family. You can choose from 1-month, 3-month, or 12-month plans. And right now, Thrive is offering all Doctor's Farmacy listeners a great deal, you’ll get up to $20 in shopping credit when you sign up, to spend on all your own favorite natural food, body, and household items. And any time you spend more than $49 you’ll get free carbon-neutral shipping. All you have to do is head over to thrivemarket.com/Hyman. Here are more of the details from the interview: -How Leah got into farming (5:53) -Why the term “food apartheid” is more accurate than “food desert” (11:44) -Soul Fire Farm and how it is working to create a new food and farm system (19:43) -Overcoming the obstacles that keep people of color from becoming farmers (27:35) -The potential benefits of regenerative agriculture (29:55) -Leah’s work getting community-supported agriculture paid for with funds from The Farm Bill (34:34) -The Fairness for Farm Workers Act and why labor protection laws historically excluded farmers (36:22) -Costa Rica’s ecosystem services model (42:13) -Internalized racism and the food system (45:20) -The role of the land in the civil rights movement (53:13) Learn more about and order Leah’s book, Farming While Black, at https://www.farmingwhileblack.org/. Follow on Facebook @farmingwhileblack, on Instagram @farmingwhileblack, and on Twitter @blkfarmer. Learn more about the work of Soul Fire Farm at http://www.soulfirefarm.org/ and follow on Facebook @soulfirefarm, on Instagram @soulfirefarm, and on Twitter @soulfirefarm. Follow Leah on Facebook @leah.penniman and on Instagram @leahpenniman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.