All posts of HEAL Staff

Equity Must be Integral to USDA Programs: HEAL’s Takeaways From the USDA Equity Commission’s Final Report

*Important update as of 1/24/2024* After decades of discriminatory practices that furthered inequities between white farmers and BIPOC farmers and years of pressure from farmers, organizers, and advocates across the country, the USDA brought on an equity commission that over the course of two years developed a comprehensive set of recommendations to improve outcomes for […]
1 year ago

3 Key Takeaways from the Latest USDA Census of Agriculture

By Ashley Fent, Campaigns Researcher Producers of color face a farm economy that remains overwhelmingly white and is increasingly dominated by larger, fewer, and more industrialized farms, according to the 2022 Census of Agriculture, released in February 2024. Conducted every five years by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Ag Census is a […]
1 year ago

HEAL Statement on USDA Equity Commission’s Final Report

February 26, 2024: Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Equity Commission issued its final report of recommendations for the USDA to “address historic and current discrimination and promote equity.” The Commission’s report provides the USDA and Congress with a guide to righting past wrongs and ensuring it provides programs and services equitably to […]
1 year ago

Recovering Black land for food and climate justice

HEAL Platform For Real Food Toolkit Series – Member Dispatch: National Black Food Justice Alliance Plank 9 – Promote Sustainable Farming, Fishing and Ranching We spoke with Kenya Crumel, Black Land and Power Director at National Black Food and Justice Alliance (NBFJA), a member-based organization fighting for Black food sovereignty, self-determining food economies, and land. […]
1 year ago

Sovereignty & Resilience: HEAL’s Winter Update

Welcome to the HEAL Food Alliance quarterly newsletter! To stay up to date on what’s happening in the food and farm justice movement, subscribe now » Everywhere we look this winter, we see beautiful acts of resistance, community building and care. At HEAL we recognize that our sovereignty and liberation is interconnected. It will take […]
1 year ago

HEAL Statement on House Democratic Principles for the Next Farm Bill

February 8, 2024: On Wednesday, the House Agriculture Committee Democrats published a memo laying out the principles the next farm bill should include to win the support of the House Democratic Caucus. In response to the memo the HEAL Food Alliance issued the following statement: The HEAL (Health, Environment, Agriculture, Labor) Food Alliance is glad […]
1 year ago
rows of corn

Drawing on Diné knowledge for Sustainable Food Systems

HEAL Platform For Real Food Toolkit Series – Member Dispatch: Nihikeya Plank 9 – Promote Sustainable Farming, Fishing and Ranching We spoke with Roberto Nutlouis, founder and Executive Director of HEAL member Nihikeya, which builds a regenerative ecological footprint through restorative farming practices and Indigenous Diné knowledge systems. Roberto is Diné (Navajo) and is of […]
1 year ago

Dysfunctional Congress Left American Farm Workers in Limbo

*note: This op-ed was originally published in the the Opinion section of the Messenger on October 18, 2023 Dysfunctional Congress Left American Farm Workers in Limbo By Jose Oliva and Sophie Ackoff Although Congress was able to make a deal this weekend and avoid a government shutdown, the 21.5 million people working in the food […]
1 year ago

Growing the Foundations of Land Justice

HEAL Platform For Real Food Toolkit Series – Member Dispatch: Minnow Plank 9 – Promote Sustainable Farming, Fishing and Ranching We spoke with Mai Nguyen, a farmer and co-founder of HEAL member Minnow, which works to secure land tenure for farmers of color in California. Trained as a geographer, Mai began their career studying soil […]
1 year ago

Together We Thrive! HEAL’s 2023 Year in Review

Download “Together we Thrive” – HEAL’s 2023 End of Year Report! Everywhere we look, we see beautiful acts of resistance. Hundreds and thousands of people upending their own lives. Saying no genocide, yes to land back. We see poetry and prayer. Protests and possibility. People making meals for each other, giving each other car rides, […]
2 years ago