Photo: Southside Community Land Trust.
Southside Community Land Trust high school interns making pizza. SCLT has numerous programs to ensure that locally grown produce gets to community members.
Today’s story is about regular folks doing good things. It isn’t news. It’s common. As I scroll through all my feeds, I like to remind myself that it’s actually common.
Brooke Warner wrote at the Providence Eye about a neighborhood I know.
“The term ‘produce aggregation’ may not conjure up an image of healthy kids and families and farmers bringing good food to communities facing food insecurity. But Southside Community Land Trust’s Produce Aggregation Program is working to do just that. It’s a way to connect urban farmers to their neighbors with healthy food while at the same time connecting their small farms to new markets.
“It ‘gets fresh local food into the local community,’ said Amelia Lopez, food access associate at Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT), who works on the Produce Aggregation Program.
“Small-scale farmers typically face numerous challenges to access wholesale markets: they lack the capacity to grow large quantities; may not have access to processing facilities; and must manage the complexities of logistics and distribution required to fulfill wholesale orders.
“The Produce Aggregation Program addresses these challenges by acting as a wholesale buyer that combines the harvest of numerous urban farmers to distribute in larger quantities. The program has its own farm-to-market processing center to collect and process crops grown by the farmers and manages the logistics and distribution of the produce, making it possible for small farms to increase the scale of their businesses.
“Twenty-seven farmers regularly sell their produce through the program. Most of the farmers are refugees, immigrants, or part of other marginalized communities. More than half of the farmers who participate have plots at SCLT’s Urban Edge Farm or Good Earth Farm properties, where farmers are able to farm on larger plots of land.
“As their businesses expand and they run out of space, many farm on numerous plots in multiple community gardens and farms. Most of the farmers in the program also sell at farmers markets, but income from farmers markets can be unpredictable and unsteady, Lopez said. The aggregation program gives them another, more reliable, outlet to sell their produce. In addition, there are many years of experience among the farmers, and they are able to share this knowledge with the high school students who take part in the SCLT’s paid internship program. ..
“ ‘Sometimes there are moments when we have an abundance of some products and the program helps us to sell them,’ said Margarita Martinez, translating her husband’s comment from Spanish. Teo Martinez, a farmer from the Dominican Republic, and Margarita are commercial growers based at Urban Edge Farm. …
“Marcel De Los Santos, SCLT’s grants and communications manager, said, ‘The fight against food insecurity faces several significant obstacles that threaten its sustainability. Reducing crucial funding sources, such as the expiration of ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act] funds, has left many food assistance programs needing help to maintain their service levels. Land acquisition for food production and community gardens has become increasingly difficult as urban development drives up property costs and reduces available space.’
“Additionally, rising food and transportation costs and persistent supply chain disruptions strain food banks’ operational capacities. These challenges are compounded by the growing demand for food assistance services, climate change impacts on agricultural production, and the need for consistent volunteer engagement. …
“The [aggregation] program runs two distribution cycles each week during the growing season. SCLT orders different products in various quantities from different participating farmers and notifies them in advance of each cycle what they will be purchasing. Farmers deliver their produce to the food hub, where it is processed and packed into bags with other farmers’ produce. Each bag contains about $20 worth of fresh produce, sourced from different farmers, and is ready to be distributed … through numerous community partners that in turn give it out to their participants at no cost. Distribution partners include organizations such as health clinics, day care programs, and recreation centers. Health clinic partners … give out the produce through the VeggieRx program, where doctors give patients a ‘prescription’ of produce. …
“[As of this writing] the program us funded primarily by the USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement program (LFPA), which began during the pandemic to expand access to local, healthy food and increase economic opportunities for underserved farmers. [The] program has a new home in the SCLT’s new Healthy Food Hub. …
“SCLT’s mission is to help local urban farmers by providing land access, agricultural resources, and agriculture and business training. The nonprofit supports the operation of 60 community gardens in Providence, Pawtucket, and Central Falls, including 20 land trust-owned properties.
“The Produce Aggregation Program is one of many that the SCLT runs or partners with to address food insecurity in the Providence area. Farmers markets, gardens, education programs, and internships are among further examples of the SCLT’s mission. All of these activities, like the Produce Aggregation Program, help increase access to fresh, healthy, and culturally relevant food for these urban communities and feed roughly 1,200 families annually.
“Although the growing season typically ends at Thanksgiving, the work of the SCLT continues year-round, along with its partner organizations and local businesses, farmers, volunteers, students, families, and the local community.”
Not being sure that USDA will still fund programs like those, I suspect this could be another worthy cause that will have to rely on private fund raising.
More from the Providence Eye via ecoRI News, here.
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