By Meriwether Hardie
In our work, we often talk about the balance of finding and feeling hope, and how to create space to process, grieve, and acknowledge the pain and sadness around us. Working in food systems can be full of days filled with hope. I recently spoke with a farmer in Colorado who transitioned from conventional to regenerative growing practices and, after several years of hard work and investment, is experiencing increased crop yields, increased water retention, and increased organic matter in his soil. Working in this space is also full of days that feel overwhelming, especially when looking at policy decisions, racial injustice embedded in our country's history of landownership and food systems, the increased pattern of natural disasters, and so many things that feel beyond the reach of our work.
When a disaster strikes, our society’s easy access to data (like video clips on social media and headlines at our fingertips) provide us with an initial window from afar into the stories of the communities experiencing that disaster. And, as time passes and the news moves on to the next headline, so does our attention despite the fact that these communities are still impacted. During this end of year season where many of us are gathering with family, reflecting, and supporting organizations that we believe in, we wanted to highlight and bring attention to several organizations that we have supported and worked with this past year.
Extreme Weather in Vermont
Flooding at the Intervale Center in Burlington, Vermont. Photo credit: Intervale Center
In May, Vermont experienced a frost that completely destroyed much of the year's apple and vineyard crops. In July, the state experienced record and catastrophic amounts of rain and major flooding. According to Vermont Agriculture Secretary Anson Tebbetts, Vermont farmers reported over 16 million in damage and losses from the flooding, not to mention the many homes, roads, and other public infrastructure that was destroyed. A survey of food producers in Vermont was conducted by the state and found that over 27,350 acres of farm crops were impacted by the flooding.
The USDA declared both of these events as natural disasters, which allows farms to be eligible for emergency federal loans. But federal support takes a long time, and can also often overlook small producers. During this time, the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont (NOFA-VT) provided important resources to many small scale farmers, including their Farmer Emergency Fund, which they first established in 1997 to support farmer members who have been “adversely affected by natural and unnatural disaster.” Although the immediate urgency of this extreme weather has passed, this fund continues to support farmers who are rebuilding from this summer.
Studies have shown that the impacts of natural disasters disproportionately affect people of color in the United States. Another Northeast organization working to support farmer resilience, is the Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust (NEFOC). NEFOC’s mission is to advance permanent and secure land tenure for farmers and land stewards of color with a focus on regenerative agriculture, sustainable human habitat, climate justice, ceremony, native species ecosystem restoration, and cultural preservation. NEFOC was born from and co-founded by Soul Fire Farm. Many of our team members have participated in Soul Fire Farm’s Uprooting Racism Training, which has contributed to our collective learning and work. Both of these organizations we strongly recommend if you are seeking programs to support.
Fires on Maui
On August 8th, several fires broke out on the island of Maui, Hawaii. The fires hit the historic town of Lahaina in West Maui, burning most of the town to ash and ruins. The fires upended community members, forced thousands of people to evacuate, and took the lives of 115 people. The disaster area contained more than 800 business establishments with about 7,000 employees, all of whom were majorly impacted by these events.
The buffelgrass invasion has changed the landscape in Hawaii and other states. Photo credit: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service/Steve Hillebrand
Hawaii has a history of colonization and exploitation of natural resources, which is part of the story of how the Lahaina fires spread so quickly. In the late 18th century, European ranchers introduced non-native brushes (such as guinea grass, molasses grass and buffelgrass) to Hawaii in an effort to create drought resistant forage. These invasive shrubs took off and today they cover almost a quarter of Hawaii’s land base. They spread during the rainy season and dry out during the summer, making them highly flammable. After a fire burns through, these species are able to adapt quickly, and are therefore able to repopulate often faster than native plants, which also means that the land is more susceptible to a future fire.
At Hana Ranch, one of our long-term management projects, we have partnered with the Maui Invasive Species Committee (MISC) to help us better understand and manage invasive species. MISC is a voluntary partnership of government, private and non-profit organizations, and concerned individuals working to “prevent, control or eliminate the most threatening invasive plant and animal species to protect Maui’s watersheds, ecological resources, agriculture and community.” This type of cross-sectional collaboration plays an important role in future stewardship of Hawaiian lands.
Invasive species management is part of the work done at Hana Ranch on Maui. Photo credit: Molly DeCoudreaux.
After the Lahaina fires, we worked with local team members to determine organizations that were providing important services for local communities. Below are two organizations to highlight who are provided ongoing local support following the fires.
The Common Ground Collective (CGC), alongside the University of Hawaii, Salvation Army, World Central Kitchen, Chefs Hui, the County of Maui, and the Red Cross, is continuing to organize efforts and purchase supplies to provide meals and supplies to victims of the Maui wildfires. Between August 9th and September 1st, CGC provided over 128,000 meals and 3,000 produce boxes to those affected by the Maui wildfires. Today, they are continuing to serve food while working to develop long-term solutions to the economic fallout that Maui’s local communities are experiencing due to the fires.
Maui Rapid Response is another local island organization that is continuing to provide important ongoing support and resources, including housing, to local community members.
A note about the Hawaiian language: we recognize the proper use of Hawaiian diacritical marks including the ‘okina [‘] and the kahakō [ō]. We understand the importance of representing the Hawaiian language in its entirety but have omitted these from our website to help users with their online experience.
As the holiday season kicks off, we are reminded of how thankful we are to be able to do this work and to do it alongside such a remarkable community of friends, farmers and colleagues. And through this writing, our hope is to bring attention to organizations who are supporting the lingering impacts of some of this year's happenings within communities where we work, long after the media has moved on.
Here’s to building and sharing structures of support.