The risks and rewards facing young farmers

Vanessa García Polanco is from a farming family that emigrated to the US when she was a teenager. Now she works with the National Young Farmers Coalition advocating for policies that help young farmers, new farmers, and farmers of color–who are often ignored, as infrastructures tend to serve larger commodity producers–especially during the global pandemic.

Show Notes

1’57 welcoming and supporting young farmers
3’13 new farmers and people who come from farming families
4’47 why young people are going into farming
6’26 challenges for young and beginning farmers
7’36 example of discrimination
8’14 challenges during Covid pandemic
8’50 not only income losses but also higher expenses
9’35 relief programs not oriented toward smaller farmers but rather commodity farmers
10’49 why are fruits and vegetables considered “specialty crops”?
11’44 changes in policy that would help farmers and make the system more resilient
13’01 managing more risk
13’47 “food justice”
15’38 food justice and environmental justice
16’33 #Food Justice Fridays
18’43 two different ways of looking at fast food
21’19 reframing “climate refugees”
23’20 knowedge base of immigrant farmers
24’13 Vanessa’s family background from agrarian traditions in the Dominican Republic
26’10 getting involved with National Young Farmers Coalition and finding community
28’24 solidarity among different ethnicities within agriculture

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