Democratizing Food

When restaurants and farmers markers shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hearts of Harvest Farm teamed up with the drive-thru restaurant Cafe Racer to sell their produce to people in the Athens/Atlanta area. They created a socially distanced, drive-thru grocery experience where customers would preorder their produce boxes online and pick them up without having to leave their vehicle. The first week, they sold 97 boxes and now they are selling out each week.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic making access to groceries more difficult, The Walker River Paiute Tribe created a food pantry to support members of the tribe and local farmers. The food pantry has since become the largest in the state, by volume of distributed food, having distributed about 6,500 bags of food to over 355 households.

Isles, Inc. provides plants, seeds, and support to over 70 community gardens in Trenton, 20 of which belong to schools. In a city where many residents experience food insecurity, Isles also maps food-assets and food deserts, runs a training garden to teach new growers the basics of at-home gardening, and hosts a free summer camp to get young people interested in agriculture and nature. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Isles has distributed over 100 pounds of seeds, 1,000 pounds of fertilizer, and thousands of seedlings to its garden network members and shifted many instructional workshops online.

Emerald Garden farm in Colorado is a microgreens hydroponic farming operation that is using a comprehensive approach toward conducting business. From experimenting with new practices to reduce food waste to diversifying partnerships to enhance crop development, the owners have successfully scaled the initial operation and are providing food for fine restaurants as well as grocery stores a local school district and potentially hospitals.

Herders in Mongolia have resorted to cooperative shared funds to keep their pastures afloat, a sign of a slow tilt towards greater collaboration and trust in the area. The shared funds act as a way for herders to borrow and lend money among themselves, helping local communities build financial security in a time when climate change is negatively impacting their pasture land.

After realizing the rate that which food gets thrown away at grocery stores due to approaching expiration dates, one man in Nigeria decided to do something about it. Oscar Ekponimo created a web-based app that lets grocery store retailers know if something is near expiration. Once notified, the retailers mark down the item; this allows non-governmental organizations to purchase and sell to people that are food insecure.

The Common Market in Philadelphia is an example of a thriving food hub. A 2017 study showed there are at least 360 active food hubs in America that are helping small farmers sell their produce while helping people access healthy food. Now that the model has been proven at a local level, it remains to be seen whether these food hubs will have success with national expansion, though the Common Market is demonstrating success in three markets already.

Food insecurity across the heartland can be improved through the many solutions and advice provided in this article. Community gardens, cooking demonstrations, food pantries and food delivery are just a few examples.

Los Angeles-based nonprofit Food Forward was born out of the observation that many farmers are growing more fruit than they can sell at market. To cut down on food waste and get these viable fruits into the hands of people that are food insecure, Food Forward operates as the "transfer point between donors and receiving agencies," while also coordinating volunteers to forage the local farms and farmers markets.

The rapid development of emerging economies across Asia and Africa is lifting hundreds of millions of people out of poverty - but there is much debate as to how to best structure this growth. If these economies evolve in the same way as in the West - with unchecked, excessive resource consumption and heavy pollution - the planet may be on the fast track to disaster. Earthrise explores how these nations can grow sustainably using improved, eco-conscious technologies like renewable energy and eco-friendly farming practices.