Reckoning Greener Pastures and Racial Justice
Our vision and accountability for the future
From the start, we’ve been a presence that aims to make change in our food system. Our vision is a world where food and farming is humane, sustainable, and just. Against the backdrop of the murder of George Floyd; against the backdrop of white supremacy and deep, structural racial injustice against Black and Brown bodies in the land on which on we reap our food, we have to own something: we’ve been part of the problem.
It started with our theory of change and deciding who to “serve” in the early days of Greener Pastures. Knowing that we wanted to shift the system, we focused on who had consumer buying power that we could help to vote with their forks. In particular, we’ve focused on women who are educated, food secure, the main purchaser of food for their household, and have an interest in ethical agriculture. We assumed that if we poured our energy into shifting behavior in this powerful purchasing group we could help shift consumer demand.
But guess what? This group is heavily white. Why? Because hundreds of years of racist policy in our food and economic systems have concentrated stolen wealth in white hands, giving affluent white people the ability to “vote with their forks” at disproportionate rates.
In addition, we wanted to hone in on farmer voices, especially those who are doing incredible work on the forefront of humane, sustainable practices. We set out to feature farmers in Minnesota and Wisconsin doing pasture-based livestock farming. And we are proud of the wonderful group of farmers we’ve had the privilege to share about, and who we have upcoming farm features planned for.
But guess what? This group is also heavily white. So the farmers that we featured- and encouraged folks like you to support- are mostly white. Moreover, the faces in our photography and on our social media are almost entirely white. Why? Because hundreds of years of racist policy in our food and economic system have concentrated stolen wealth in white hands, opening the doors to white land ownership and farm financing at drastically disproportionate rates.
Here’s where we’ve been a part of the problem: As white women, in choosing to focus our energy on those who have power now in our present day farming world, we failed to acknowledge the role that we were playing in perpetuating white supremacy in agriculture. We ignored the fact that those with buying power and those with land are those supported by white supremacy and racist policy, rather than recognizing that the racial inequity of agriculture is part of what we should be working on fixing.
To be crystal clear: the history of agriculture in the United States is a history of slavery, land theft, genocide, and exploitation of Black and Brown bodies. If we are to create a food system that is humane, sustainable and just, we must address racial inequities in our food system.
Why does working on racial justice within the food system matter? Why do we need a food system based in collective liberation? Because this is about power.
Right now we have a rigged food system, with rules written by and for the benefit of corporate, concentrated, industrialized players that extract wealth from communities and vitality from the land. Our broken food system hurts us all. It hurts the white farmers we’ve talked to who are up against serious obstacles to survive, and it hurts communities of color who are up against racist policies and disparities that make it harder to eat local sustainable food and access land.
If the people who are affected by the problems don’t create the solutions, we’re not going to solve the right problems. It’s cliche but true: we all do better when we all do better because we can take on our shared challenges together and change the status quo.
Moving forward, we have plans to change what we’re doing. And we want to publicly share what we’ll do:
We are going to share the mic. We want to offer paid opportunities to BIPOC (Black, Indiginous, and people of color) food and farming leaders who can speak to the amazing work they are already doing in our food system as contributors on the Greener Pastures blog. We want to pay folks of color for this work.
We are going to shine a light on white supremacy in our food system more than ever before. We will seek out stories that counter the white farming narrative, and we are going to continue acknowledging the role that racism has played in shaping our farming system.
We are going to prioritize intentional relationships with organizations and individuals in the farmers of color community, and create farm features more equitably centering farmers of color.
We are going to build a board that represents the future of agriculture we envision- with BIPOC leaders equitably at the table. We are in the stages of building a board of directors, and we will not complete our 501c(3) incorporation until our board reflects those who deserve a just food system most of all.
We expect this will take time. That’s okay. We’re on the never-ending journey, not just trying to check a box.
And, we have blind spots. We know it. As we go through this process, we will listen and do our work to repair harms we commit.
We don’t say this looking for praise, brownie points, or thanks. Instead, we say this for the sake of accountability, not only for us, but for our readers. We want you to expect change, and we want you to be a part of it.
Black lives matter. Black farmers matter. Black and POC leadership in our food future matters.
Looking forward to building a just food system together.
Signed,
The Greener Pastures team
Sarah Carroll and Sarah Wescott