Topic:
Making Sure All People Have Access to Affordable Food
In This Episode:
02:16 Mike gives some background on the topic for today's episode.
02:38 Julia Freedgood is introduced.
02:47 Julia tells about the American Farmland Trust.
03:08 Julia shares why farmland and food equity are important.
04:19 Julia explains what food equity is.
05:40 Julia talks about whether food insecurity is a real problem.
06:50 Julia reflects on what needs to be done to attack the problem of food insecurity.
09:08 Julia gives examples of communities that are making progress in the issue of food insecurity.
11:28 Julia provides information about resources on the Growing Food Connections website.
13:44 Julia shares how to access the Community Guide to Planning for Agriculture and Food Systems.
15:00 Julia identifies some of the issues that are creating an obstacle to food security and food equity.
19:45 Julia communicates what the average person can do to be supportive of more food security for other people.
23:23 Mike mentions the book “The New Grand Strategy.”
Guest:
Julia Freedgood is the Assistant Vice President of Programs for the American Farmland Trust and oversees federal, state and local program and policy efforts to support farmland protection and agricultural viability.
Organization:
American Farmland Trust is dedicated to preserving the nation's farm and ranch land – and critical natural resources like soil and water. They also make sure to never forget that it is people – our family farmers and ranchers – who feed us and sustain America.
Take Away Quotes:
“The American Farmland Trust is a national nonprofit organization. We were founded in 1980 to protect farmland for farming, so our mission is to save the land that sustains us by protecting farmland, promoting sound farming practices, and keeping farmers on the land.”

“For us, in the context of the project that I was talking about, which is a project American Farmland Trust is part of called Growing Food Connections, and the goal of that project is to strengthen community food systems by supporting small and midsize farmers who are growing food within their communities and regions, and also by improving food access, food security, or food equity. And so for the food-equity piece, we’re really looking at making sure that all people in a community have access to affordable food that’s culturally appropriate, the kind of food they’re familiar with and like to eat, and that it’s readily available.”

“Fifty million people in the country are affected by food insecurity, and so that means lack of access to food on a regular basis. It doesn’t mean that they’re starving, necessarily, but it does mean that they don’t have food access every day, three meals a day, healthy food. It’s gotten a little bit better in the last few years, but it’s still worse than it was before the Great Recession, and it’s still a problem that we need to work on. And you find it especially in low-wealth communities and communities of color and rural communities.”

“Through the project [Growing Food Connections], we studied what we call Communities of Innovation, and so these would be places across the country that have really addressed food-system issues through planning and policy and building partnerships and making investments.”
Resources:
American Farmland Trust

Farmland Information Center

Growing Food Connections

“The New Grand Strategy”