Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on March 13, 2012
The Grow a Farmer Fund campaign, a partnership between Main Street Project, Just Food Cooperative and Renewing the Countryside this campaign is getting going with local attention growing. The Northfield news just posted an article I thought described it best. To contribute to the fund one does not have to be a gardener just go to the on-line giving site. It does not matter where in the world one is these days, you can contribute to this local effort anytime, anywhere. Our hope is that everyone out there will realize that we don’t just need naturally grown healthy foods, we need change in the food and agriculture systems and infrastructure as well. By change we mean ownership and control of infrastructure and resources, and this change needs to include paths for minorities to participate fully and equally. Financing is the tallest barrier to overcome and to solve this we need everybody to pitch in with a small contribution to this fund so we can start this structural changes that are so badly needed.
Posted by admin on March 5, 2012
“I’ve always wanted to have my own business and be more independent,” says recent training graduate and new business incubator participant Victor Torres in today’s Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) story, ‘Strengthening rural Latino start-ups.’
MPR is running a series about entrepreneurship in Minnesota and reconnected with the Rural Enterprise Center’s training program. The article cites Kauffman Foundation research that in 2010, Latinos accounted for just under a quarter of all new entrepreneurs. That statistic doesn’t surprise us one bit. It’s why we’re so excited to begin supporting new farmers through a business incubator process this spring. And it’s why organizations like the Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation (SMIF) and W.K. Kellogg Foundation are providing incubator support, as well.
As Tim Penny, President of SMIF says in the article, “I see this as an opportunity to build your own success.”
Read the MPR story by Elizabeth Baier here.
Posted by Kblanchard on April 7, 2011
I have been meaning to write about this important report since it came out in February. A project of the Applied Research Center, The Color of Food is an account of the state of racial inequality in our food system, and a challenge to the “good food movement” (a catch-all for sustainable/local/real/slow food), stating:
A movement based on a holistic understanding of food justice needs to encompass the chain of food production that connects seeds to mouths. The food chain includes the workers that help to plant the seeds, harvest the crops, package the food, deliver the product and serve the meal to consumers.
The report is particularly interesting in what it reveals about Latino workers in the food system. As the graph below demonstrates, Latinos make up just 15.4% of the US population, but 25% of total food workers.
Despite being the most represented racial minority in food work, Latinos have the lowest median annual wage of all food workers, at $18,438/year. The median annual wage of all people of color is $19,349. For Black food workers, the median annual wage is $19,523. For Asian food workers it is $23,427, and White food workers make an annual median wage of $25,024.
The race/gender gaps in wages and management positions are also striking. Compared to a white man’s $1.00, Latino men make $0.66, and Latina Women make $0.50. Only 8.5% of managerial positions in the food system are held by Latino men, and 4.5% are held by Latina women. People of color in managerial positions also earn significantly less than White managers.
I recommend a look through the entire report; it presents the fact, clear as day: Good Food, Real Food, Sustainable Food — whatever we want to call it, it has to include justice, goodness, real wages, and sustainable lifestyles for producers, processors, distributors… all food workers.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on November 8, 2010
Just saw this article that Heather Thorstensen of AgriNews recently wrote about our work in Southern Minnesota. Here is the link to the article.
Posted by Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquin on September 20, 2010
Since a story aired on MPR about the work of the Rural Enterprise Center, many regional and local newspapers have picked up and published the story. The Mankato Free Press among the first, the Post Bulletin and the Winona Daily News are some of those we have tracked.
