The post A Groundbreaking California Farming Collective Navigates the Loss of Federal Grants appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>Lesley Swain spent most of her adult life teaching English to middle and high school students in Oakland and Hayward, California. The 51-year-old used to joke with herself that when she retired, she would become a farmer. Then, about two years ago, Swain decided she didn’t want to wait any longer. She quit her job and started looking for agricultural work. But with no farming on her resume, she struggled to find opportunities to gain experience.
Eventually she found Agroecology Commons, a small nonprofit farming collective based in nearby El Sobrante, where she signed up for Bay Area Farmer-to-Farmer Training (BAFFT), a nine-month program for beginning farmers. Swain is now an apprentice with Berkeley Basket, an urban backyard community-supported agriculture project, through a program that Agroecology Commons offered to BAFFT graduates.
“It’s given me a path that is so healthy,” Swain said. “This is what I want to do, and I didn’t know how I was going to do it.”
Agroecology Commons has helped aspiring farmers like Swain since its founding five years ago. But like many organizations, it must now do more with less.
It was among hundreds of programs whose grants have been canceled by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“We’re hoping that we’re successful in fundraising and campaigning to offset some of the losses,” said Jeneba Kilgore, one of four Agroecology Commons co-directors. “[But] I don’t think we’ll completely recuperate everything that was lost as a result of the federal cuts.”
Agroecology Commons co-director Brooke Porter admires the onions grown on the Agroecology Commons farm. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
Thriving vs. Surviving
Agroecology Commons was formed in 2020 by an eclectic group of Bay Area farmers, educators, artists, and cooperative business owners who were passionate about the intersection of land and liberation. They have spent the last five years creating programs and providing spaces for farmer-to-farmer education and relationship-building for low-income and minority farmers.
The group grows a range of produce, including cherry tomatoes, onions, and beans, on three acres of land tucked into the hillside of a suburban neighborhood. They raise goats and harvest honey. And they run a center dedicated to educating farmers and community members about farming and land stewardship.
In August 2022, the USDA announced plans to allocate up to $300 million in funding to projects that enable underserved producers to access land and technical support. The funding was made available under the Increasing Land, Capital, and Market Access Program (ILCMA), which aimed to help those producers move from “surviving to thriving.”
“It’s a seismic blow, but at least we know and can start the next steps.”
In June 2023, Agroecology Commons was among 50 recipients the USDA selected from across the country. It was awarded a $2.5 million grant to find, buy, and develop land for up to 10 “BIPOC, LGBTQIA, and landless farmers” in the Bay Area. The same year, the Commons was awarded a three-year, $397,000 grant through the Community Food Projects Competitive Grant Program—a small program designed to address food and nutrition security in marginalized communities—also through the USDA.
“The ILCMA grant was revolutionary,” said Kilgore, who, with a background in cooperative business, is the “numbers” person on the team. The first program of its kind in the area, Agroecology Commons “was really going to support so many people that have been historically removed from the land in really harmful ways, and support their future generations.”
Not long after the Trump administration took office, however, the USDA froze the grants—first the Community Food Projects grant, then the ILCMA grant—making the money inaccessible for months.
At last, Agroecology Commons received a termination notice for the Community Food Projects grant on March 7, but has yet to receive an official termination notice for the ILCMA grant. However, Kilgore said the grant has been removed from their Automated Standard Application for Payments (ASAP) portal—the portal used by federal agencies to disburse funds to recipient organizations. In addition, although the organization wasn’t named, the USDA publicized that a $2.5 million grant for a Bay Area ILCMA project was canceled in a June press release.
Since the beginning of this year, the USDA has terminated a number of grants that had been offered to food and farming organizations across the county, canceling billions of dollars in funding. Some programs—such as one that provided funding for governments to purchase local food, and another that supported small farms and food businesses around the country—have been completely canceled. Others, like the Farmers Market Promotion, Community Food Projects Competitive Grant, and the ILCMA program, have not been ended altogether but have had individual contracts canceled.
About 35 percent of the Commons’ work is funded by the state, foundations, individual donors, and earned income. But the remaining 65 percent of the work was made possible by these federal grants.
“It’s a seismic blow, but at least we know and can start the next steps,” Leah Atwood, another Agroecology Commons’ co-director, told Civil Eats in June.
Co-director Leah Atwood feeds Agroecology Commons’ goats a special treat of vegetable scraps and plums. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
Increasing Land Access
Systemic barriers have historically made it harder for marginalized farmers to access the land and resources necessary to build lucrative businesses. Today, 95 percent of producers in the U.S. are white and 64 percent are male, according to the 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture.
“There are a lot of young farmers that don’t have access to land or inherited wealth and are not going to be able to disrupt that 95 percent ownership reality by just trying to go at it by themselves,” Atwood said.
The majority of the ILCMA grant was going to be used to purchase land to establish a commons—a collaborative system where land is owned and managed collectively, rather than by sole owner—for BIPOC, queer, and landless farmers. The grant was also going to fund 60 percent of Agroecology Commons’ staffing capacity for the next three years.
“I wish they would just say that they don’t want to support people of color, and they just want to support white men, because that is what they’re implying.”
The organization planned to purchase land in several counties across Northern California. They had already built a relationship with a real estate agent, Kilgore said, and had a list of sites that they were interested in purchasing, but before the team was able to move forward, the grant was frozen.
“When it came to the ILCMA grant, we were doing all the things that they said,” Kilgore said. “We’re supporting farmers; we’re supporting economic development; we’re supporting people to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps; we are giving people the opportunity to start their own business,” she said. “I wish they would just say that they don’t want to support people of color, and they just want to support white men,” she continued, “because that is what they’re implying.”
Brooke Porter (left) and volunteers Zoe Meraz (right) and Noelle Romero (center) inspect hive frames heavy with honey, making sure that the hives are healthy. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
Training New Farmers
In addition to broadening land access, the Agroecology Commons seeks to pass on agricultural knowledge to those who may have trouble accessing it otherwise. It was using a second pot of federal money, the Community Foods Projects grant, to help fund training programs such as the BAFFT program Swain participated in.
The program not only gives participants the chance to learn, experiment, and practice land stewardship under the guidance of experienced mentors, but also enables them to take online courses from global partners on a range of topics, including social movements in agrarian reform, agroecology, and food sovereignty.
Once they complete the curriculum, new farmers can apprentice at Bay Area farms. Of the 40 BAFFT graduates so far, 17 are currently working as apprentices on 12 different farms, according to Brooke Porter, a co-director of the Commons. To alleviate socioeconomic conditions that might prevent new farmers from being able to gain experience, the Commons makes a point of paying both the apprentices and their mentors.
Oftentimes, opportunities for young farmers to gain essential on-farm skills require them to provide free time and labor, which requires a certain level of privilege, Porter said. Agroecology Commons’ program challenges that status quo, giving disadvantaged farmers the boost they need to get started.
“This is an opportunity to really change the dichotomy of how people typically get to learn on-farm skills,” Porter said.
“This is deeper than what I do for my career. This is ancestral work for me.”
The Berkeley Basket CSA program is currently hosting two of the Commons’ apprentices—Swain and Cielo Flores, 31. Flores, whose family from El Salvador has a deep history in agriculture, said he signed up for the farmer training program because he was interested in learning how to start his own farming project and cooperative. The program and apprenticeship provided him a template for how he could approach his own project.
“I wouldn’t be doing this without their support,” Flores said. “Agroecology Commons is trying to support me in my vision to become a farmer, to become a land steward. This is deeper than what I do for my career. This is ancestral work for me.”
Moretta “Mo” Browne, who joined Berkeley Basket CSA in 2019 and now owns it, is grateful that Agroecology Commons pays both hosts and participants in the apprenticeship program.
“I already wanted to be a part of it, but the fact that they were able to compensate folks really feels like they understand how exploitative this work can be,” they said. Additionally, getting paid to be a mentor only sweetens the deal. “Being able to live out your dream of being a farmer shouldn’t come at the cost of having a roof over your head or putting food on the table,” they said.
In addition to the apprenticeship opportunity, the Commons offers its El Sobrante incubator farm as a space where BAFFT program graduates can start their own farm projects and continue gaining hands-on training. The 3-acre plot has shared infrastructure, a tool-lending library, and tractors, helping eliminate the structural barriers to successful farming.
Among vegetables like tomatoes and onions, Agroecology Commons grows an array of native flowers on the farm. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
Equity and Climate Efforts
In March, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced in a video on Instagram that the USDA had canceled the Agroecology Commons’ Community Food Projects grant. She stated that the termination was because the grant aimed “to educate queer, trans, and BIPOC urban farmers and consumers about food justice and values aligned markets.”
“We knew a lot of our language has the DEI buzzwords that they’re looking for and the climate focus that they have been targeting, so [the termination] didn’t come out of thin air,” Atwood said.
Only about $32,000 of the grant remains. As a result, the organization has had to pause some projects, such as the creation of financial literacy and cooperative business-planning workbooks. It also cut back on the number of apprenticeship hours it can offer. Last year, Porter said, the Commons offered apprentices the option to do 250- or 500-hour apprenticeships, but this year, it could only offer the lesser of the two.
“It is a much different learning experience, obviously,” she said.
As for the ILCMA grant, it wasn’t until June that Agroecology Commons became aware that it too was likely designated for cuts. A USDA press release announcing the cuts cited a $2.5 million grant “for expanding equitable access to land, capital, and market opportunities for underserved producers in the Bay Area” as an example of one of the terminated programs.
“Putting American Farmers First means cutting the millions of dollars that are being wasted on woke DEI propaganda,” Rollins said in the press release. “Under President Trump’s leadership, I am putting an end to the waste, fraud, and abuse that has diverted resources from American farmers and restoring sanity and fiscal stewardship to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”
When asked in an email for further details regarding the grant cancellations, the USDA press office declined to comment.
While Agroecology Commons has yet to receive an official termination letter for the ILCMA grant, Kilgore said it is hard to move forward when they don’t know what might happen next. The organization has had to pause progress on its land commons project and shift its plans to bring on four more full-time employees to only two part-time staff.
Because of the financial constraints that have resulted from the grant terminations, the Commons has had to cut another program, Farmer Wellness Days, which has provided more than 145 farmers with acupuncture, massages, or chiropractic work.
“Try to imagine building something and choreographing planning on quicksand,” Atwood said. “It’s so much of an energy drain trying to figure out how to accommodate that.”
Former street dog Guistino, also known as “Goose,” spends his days adventuring around the Agroecology Commons. (Photo credit: Riley Ramirez)
Pressing Forward
Despite this, the organization has not given up. In June, Agroecology Commons joined five other groups to sue the USDA over the termination of the Community Food Projects grant. Their legal team later amended the complaint to add the ILCMA grant, after becoming aware of its likely cancellation.
The plaintiffs filed a motion for preliminary injunction on June 26, asking the court to stop the USDA’s behavior from continuing and for relief for the plaintiff grantees, according to FarmSTAND, a food-system-focused legal advocacy organization.
David Muraskin, managing director of litigation at FarmSTAND and one of the attorneys representing the case, said with the brief in support of the motion complete, the court can now issue an order. They hope a ruling will be made within a few weeks, he said, but it could also take months. And if the case moves to the appeals court, it could take a year at minimum.
While federal funding cuts have forced Agroecology Commons to scale down some of its initiatives, state funding has enabled the group to expand another one of its programs, which provides young farmers with financial resources to start their own farming operations.
The seed grant program—which addresses resource inequity among beginning farmers—has typically offered $1,000 to $5,000 grants to BAFFT graduates and the apprentice program’s hosts. This year, however, the organization will be able to offer eligible farmers up to $50,000 in seed grants after the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) awarded the program $784,000.
Prior to receiving the CDFA grant, 26 seed grants had been given out, totaling nearly $69,000, Porter said. This year $400,000 will be distributed to people in the Bay Area, who, like Lesley Swain, are pursuing their farming dreams.
Agroecology Commons may be able to help fewer new farmers, but they’re still offering a vital source of support, and they aren’t giving up.
“We’re not retracting any of our goals,” Atwood said. “We are continuing to be outspoken that we do believe that this type of work needs to center BIPOC, queer, and landless farmers.”
The post A Groundbreaking California Farming Collective Navigates the Loss of Federal Grants appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>The post The EPA Canceled These 21 Climate Justice Projects appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to “unleash” U.S. energy. The order directed the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Lee Zeldin, to immediately pause previously approved disbursements of funds that were inconsistent with the president’s new energy priorities.
As a result, hundreds of environmental justice grants were cancelled by the EPA. Among these were 21 projects designed to improve climate, farming, and food resilience in underserved communities across the United States.
The organizations guiding these projects now face a significant loss of funding, ranging from $155,000 to $20 million each, according to federal documents obtained by Civil Eats through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
After Trump’s executive order, some funds were immediately frozen, with organizations receiving little to no communication from the EPA as to why or for how long. Between late March and early May, the groups began receiving letters notifying them that their grants had been terminated.
To find the cancelled climate, farming, and food equity grants, Civil Eats examined a list of 400 environmental justice grants slated for termination, published by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and cross-referenced the list with hundreds of grant descriptions made public by the EPA. Through FOIA requests, we verified that each of the 21 projects below had been terminated.
When asked why these equity grants had been cancelled, the EPA press office told Civil Eats in an email, “Maybe the Biden-Harris Administration shouldn’t have forced their radical agenda of wasteful DEI programs and ‘environmental justice’ preferencing on the EPA’s core mission. The Trump EPA will continue to work with states, tribes, and communities to support projects that advance the agency’s core mission of protecting human health and the environment.”
EPA’s Canceled Climate, Farming, and Food Equity Projects
Building Climate Resilient Communities in the Eastern Coachella Valley
Recipient: Pueblo Unido, CDC
State: California
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $18.8 million
Project Description: Pueblo Unido planned to use the funding to build four geothermal, solar-powered greenhouses in California’s Eastern Coachella Valley, supporting vertical hydroponic farming and offering training and jobs for “controlled environment agriculture” workers. Project plans included a nursery to propagate native tree seedlings for free distribution to the community.
Denver Urban Gardens Dig Deeper Initiative
Recipient: Denver Urban Gardens
State: Colorado
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: The Dig Deeper Initiative aimed to address environmental justice issues through planting community gardens and food forests in West Denver neighborhoods. The green spaces were meant to decrease the urban “heat island” effect, improve overall air quality, and increase residents’ access to fresh, healthy foods.
Drying Seaweed Using Waste Heat
Recipient: Prince William Sound Science Technology Institute
State: Alaska
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $477,135
Project Description: This project planned to explore whether waste heat from a diesel power plant could be used efficiently to dry large quantities of seaweed. The goal was to eliminate processing roadblocks, grow the local mariculture industry, and increase food security.
Engaging Communities for a Resilient and Sustainable Waco and McLennan County
Recipient: Mission Waco, Mission World
State: Texas
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $18.9 million
Project Description: Mission Waco and its partners planned to divert food waste from landfills by expanding residential and commercial composting programs in McLennan County and its largest city, Waco. They also planned to create numerous internship, training, and professional development opportunities focused on food-waste diversion.
From Food Waste to Opportunity
Recipient: Rhode Island Food Policy Council
State: Rhode Island
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $18.7 million
Project Description: Rhode Island Food Policy Council planned to address food waste in Rhode Island through a multilevel approach. In collaboration with a coalition of organizations, the project intended to increase and improve composting infrastructure and support programs that would redirect edible food to nonprofits rather than landfills.
Growing Environmental Justice Through Community Food Forest Development
Recipient: United Charitable
State: Maine
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: Working with 11 partner organizations, United Charitable planned to develop eight food forests to increase climate resiliency and food security for Maine communities disproportionately impacted by environmental injustice. United Charitable planned to plant and distribute 1,870 fruit and nut trees in rural areas of the state, provide educational programs, and document food-forest projects so they might be implemented elsewhere.
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Tribal Resilience Hub
Recipient: Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe
State: Minnesota
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $20 million
Project Description: The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe intended to use their funding to create a Tribal Resilience Hub that would have provided essential services during emergencies. They also planned to install rain gardens, plant community gardens, and invest in electric vehicles and transportation infrastructure.
Local Food Access and EJ Leadership Capacity Building Initiative
Recipient: Ecolibrium3
State: Minnesota
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: The Lincoln Park Local Foods Local Places Action Plan would have researched social determinants of health in Duluth’s Lincoln Park neighborhood. The project would also have created several different employment opportunities, including a neighborhood farmer-in-residence position to steward the expansion of urban agriculture education, support small grocery stores, expand land analysis and garden development, and explore using waste heat for food production.
Michigan Tribal and State Wild Rice Initiative
Recipient: Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan
State: Michigan
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program
Grant Amount: $3 million
Project Description: The Wild Rice Initiative would have used the funding to support the meaningful participation of Michigan’s federally recognized tribal governments in the Tribal-State Manoomin Stewardship Plan to protect wild rice.
Okanogan County Microgrid Community Resilience Hubs
Recipient: Okanogan County Community Action Council
State: Washington
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $20 million
Project Description: The Okanogan County Community Action Council was going to invest in two community resilience hubs. One would have served as an emergency shelter during extreme weather conditions and as a workforce training space, while the other would have turned an old Safeway building into a solar-powered food bank with gleaning programs, nutrition classes, and a market-style pantry. Although their grant didn’t appear on the Senate’s termination list, it was announced by the EPA in December—and then never materialized, according to the Council. According to information obtained from the EPA through a FOIA, the grant “was never awarded.”
Placemaking to Address Food Equity and Environmental Sustainability in Southeast Kansas
Recipient: Kansas Department of Health and Environment
State: Kansas
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program
Grant Amount: $1 million
Project Description: This project intended to use grant funding to promote food equity and environmental justice in Labette, Montgomery, and Cherokee counties through edible landscapes on main streets and raised-bed garden kits for families.
Por las Quebradas (For the Streams)
Recipient: El Departamento de la Comida
Territory: Puerto Rico
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $11.8 million
Project Description: The Por las Quebradas project aimed to create a climate resilience hub, restore waterways, and support community education and workforce development in the farming communities of San Salvador and Borinquen, Puerto Rico. The resilience hub would have established a plant and tree nursery, created community composting facilities, and expanded an existing program that purchased surplus produce from local farmers for a community kitchen.
Enhancing Community and Environmental Sustainability through the Dos Pueblos Institute’s Climate Action Strategy
Recipient: Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians
State: California
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $20 million
Project Description: The Restoring Resilience project aimed to establish a resilience hub that would have served as an emergency shelter during wildfires and other disasters. In addition, it included plans to develop a regenerative farming operation and establish a composting facility to process organic waste.
Revitalizing Metlakatla’s Ecosystems for Future Generations
Recipient: Metlakatla Indian Community
State: Alaska
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $19.5 million
Project Description: Under this project, the Metlakatla Indian Community planned to advance regenerative practices on their homelands, including developing native seaweed farming, investing in municipal waste management, and electrifying kelp-farming boats.
Springfield Community Gardens 2040 Collaborative Farming Forward
Recipient: Springfield Community Gardens
State: Missouri
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: Springfield Community Gardens intended to mitigate climate and health risks by educating and empowering underserved urban and rural Greene County communities through sustainable, organic food production. The project aimed to expand a paid internship program that Springfield Community Gardens offers to community members.
The Resilient Glades Tree Campaign
Recipient: County of Palm Beach
State: Florida
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Government-to-Government Program
Grant Amount: $1 million
Project Description: The Resilient Glades Tree Campaign aimed to plant trees across public parks to increase shade, access to fresh food, and tree canopy coverage in Palm Beach, Florida. This included planting fruit-bearing trees as well as two urban orchards to boost community food resilience.
Transforming Communities from the Ground Up through Student Led Action
Recipient: Grades of Green
State: California
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: Grades of Green intended to help Inglewood Unified School District (IUSD) divert 75 percent of its organic waste from landfill and donate 20 percent of its leftover food. The project was already providing environmental and food education programs for students, had installed edible and pollinator gardens in the Inglewood community, and planned to improve access to green space in the district.
Uplifting the Wai’anae Community for Resilience and Vibrance
Recipient: Pacific International Center for High Technology Research
State: Hawaii
Grant Program: Community Change Grant Program
Grant Amount: $13.8 million
Project Description: The Uplifting Wai’anae project planned to install a microgrid of renewable energy at Pu’uhonua o Wai’anae Farm Village and to create job training and employment opportunities for residents. Using the microgrid, the project and its partners planned to build a containerized farm for sustainable production of native and food plant species that mitigate wildfire risk and storm impacts, while increasing food security.
Vallejo Food Rescue Project
Recipient: Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano
State: California
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $155,000
Project Description: The Vallejo Food Rescue Project would have diverted edible food from landfills to the food bank, improving access to food for low-income individuals while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, the food bank was creating a toolkit with educational and promotional materials to support a replicable and collaborative local food rescue operation.
Wildfire Preparedness and Resiliency in Farmworker Communities
Recipient: Farmworker Justice Fund, Inc.
State: Washington
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $500,000
Project Description: Farmworker Justice was helping improve wildfire emergency preparedness and disaster resiliency among farmworkers in Washington State. The project was creating a toolkit of resources, as well as SMS and text messaging systems, for more than 15,000 workers. The aim of the project was to create a model that could be scaled nationally.
Youth Development Project to Tackle Extreme Heat and Food Insecurity in Underserved Communities
Recipient: Dream in Green, Inc.
State: Florida
Grant Program: Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Cooperative Agreement Program
Grant Amount: $150,000
Project Description: Dream in Green planned to educate and provide resources to underserved communities in Miami-Dade County experiencing extreme heat and food insecurity due to climate change. The project was also intended to help young people manage natural resources and learn about sustainable agricultural practices.
The post The EPA Canceled These 21 Climate Justice Projects appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>The post Immigrant Farmworkers Win Housing Rights in Vermont appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>Under a freshly enacted Vermont bill on housing that bars discrimination on the basis of citizenship or immigration status, immigrant farmworkers no longer need to submit a social security number on rental applications.
Moreover, landlords cannot refuse an application if that number is not provided; they must accept any form of unexpired government-issued identification. They also cannot charge application fees for a residential dwelling.
Republican Governor Phil Scott signed Senate Bill 127, the Vermont Rental Housing Improvement Program, on June 12, and the next day, Migrant Justice—the Vermont-based organization that conceived the measure—took to the State House steps to celebrate.
“This is a really big deal for us, and maybe it wouldn’t seem like such a big deal for everybody if they haven’t been in that situation,” said a member of Migrant Justice who requested anonymity to protect her from reprisals.
The member said that in Vermont, opportunities for undocumented immigrant families to find housing are slim. While individuals who have been naturalized or received green cards are eligible for federally subsidized housing, undocumented individuals are not, which reduces housing opportunities for them. H-2A guest workers, typically single men employed under seasonal contracts, aren’t generally seeking housing, as their lodging is provided by their employers—often on the farm itself.
As a result, the member continued, many immigrants in Vermont struggle to find secure, safe living situations.
A moment from the immigrant housing law celebration at the Vermont State House in Montpelier. (Photo credit: Terry Allen)
“We’ve been seeing a lot of abuses,” Representative Leonora Dodge (D-Essex), who sponsored the bill, said. “A lot of young families are experiencing very dangerous situations, overcrowding, and instability. It’s a very tough housing market in Vermont, and people who were able and willing to pay rent, and could give good references, just weren’t even getting a foot in the door and were being rejected.”
A 2021 report published by the Vermont Housing Conservation Board found that 85 percent of farmworker housing in the state needed improvement, and that a lack of additional dwellings on farms had led to overcrowding.
Year-round migrant dairy workers make up the largest group of immigrant farmworkers in Vermont, and the majority—whether single workers or families—live on the farms where they work. Having an employer who doubles as a landlord puts immigrant workers “in a particularly precarious and vulnerable position, as they may be less likely to report discrimination, poor working, or poor housing conditions to government officials due to fear of deportation and are unable to access federal funds to support their housing needs,” according to the state’s 2024 Fair Housing Analysis.
“It’s a very tough housing market in Vermont, and people who were able and willing to pay rent, and could give good references, just weren’t even getting a foot in the door and were being rejected.”
“What that means for people in the farmworking community is that we’re obligated to stay on jobs where our rights aren’t being respected and we’re being abused, just because the farm is the only place where we’re able to get housing,” said the Migrant Justice member.
Migrant Justice, which has long advocated for the immigrant community, first approached the state legislature with their housing proposal in 2023; however, it didn’t gain traction. According to Vermont Public, landlords and bankers have been concerned that they couldn’t run credit and background checks without a Social Security number.
“To make a landlord have to take somebody—even if they’re not here legally—I think is a challenge and a big ask,” Angela Zaikowski, director of the Vermont Landlord Association, told lawmakers at a hearing in April.
In the same article, Christopher D’Elia, president of the Vermont Bankers Association, was quoted as saying, “the credit risk analysis becomes much more difficult and heightened,” when lending to undocumented immigrants. If “two weeks from now [they] may be deported, what’s the credit risk of being able to get repaid on that loan?” he added. “That is the reality we find ourselves in.”
Dodge spoke with landlord advocates who work nationally and learned that it’s possible to run credit and background checks with just a name, address, and birth date.
With this information, Dodge reintroduced the measure in the Vermont House of Representatives earlier this year as House Bill 169, using testimony from landlords, Migrant Justice members, attorneys, and bankers to negotiate the language.
The Vermont Housing Conservation Board found that 85 percent of farmworker housing in the state needed improvement, and that a lack of additional dwellings on farms had led to overcrowding.
Determined to see it pass, Migrant Justice built a coalition of more than a dozen state government agencies and community organizations in support of the bill, including Housing and Homelessness Alliance of Vermont, Vermont Human Rights Commission, and ACLU of Vermont.
“Migrant Justice was really the spirit. They spearheaded the effort,” Dodge said. “As the sponsor of the H.169 bill, my job was to lay the groundwork on the political and legislative side.”
The resulting measure was folded into S.127—an omnibus housing bill—which received bipartisan approval.
Now, with S.127 enacted, advocates say they hope the paperwork barriers that prevent immigrant farmworkers from accessing fair housing will be alleviated, giving them more autonomy to find better job opportunities and living conditions.
“We’re really happy to have this new law in place, because it means that workers aren’t tied any more to jobs where we’re being abused,” the Migrant Justice member said. “We’ll have the ability to find our own housing.”
Vermont is one of a handful of states to enact housing access protections for immigrants into law. California was the first, passing its amendment in 2015. Other states, including Washington, New York, Oregon, Colorado, Washington, D.C., and Illinois, have also implemented similar measures.
“I think that it’s so important that we pass legislation with the recognition that immigrant workers are people, and we have to address their whole experience and not just take advantage of them and exploit their labor,” Dodge said.
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]]>The post EPA Funds Projects to Help Farmers Reduce Runoff Into the Great Lakes appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>Toxic algal blooms are a regular occurrence in Lake Erie as a result of excess nutrients used on farms, particularly concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), escaping into waterways. These blooms pose a risk to human and animal health, as the toxins generated contaminate drinking water and deplete the lake of oxygen, killing off fish.
The EPA selected four Michigan and Ohio grant recipients, including the Ohio Department of Agriculture, the Nature Conservancy, Lenawee County Soil and Water Conservation District, and the Regents of the University of Michigan.
Each of the projects selected has set forth initiatives to mitigate nutrient runoff by creating professional development and employment opportunities, as well as providing technical assistance and resources to farmers.
“By implementing edge of field practices, like adding vegetated buffers or two-stage ditches, farmers can help make the Western Lake Erie Basin more resilient while further protecting their fields from short-term threats, including flooding and drought,” Jessica D’Ambrosio, The Nature Conservancy Ohio’s agriculture director, said in a statement.
The funding was provided through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), a program that began in 2010 to accelerate efforts to protect and restore the Great Lakes. Since its inception, more than $5 billion has been appropriated for the GLRI.
While the EPA has been slashing funding for many other programs since March—cancelling almost 800 grants—the GLRI appears to be untouched, continuing business as usual. (Link to this post)
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]]>The post Inside the Food Policy Tracker appeared first on Civil Eats.
]]>Civil Eats recently hosted a virtual salon to give readers a behind-the-scenes look at our Food Policy Tracker, a tool we launched in January to help monitor the federal government’s actions as it moves to transform our food system.
The Speakers: Paulina Velasco, collaborations project manager at the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), moderator; Lisa Held, Civil Eats senior staff reporter and contributing editor; Matt Wheeland, operations director; and Brian Calvert, senior editor.
Quick Overview: The discussion focused on how we find, choose, and report our posts. The panelists also addressed what it takes to keep the Tracker current, their approach to information (and misinformation), and what they’ve learned since the launch of the Tracker when Trump took office.
- Why Create a Food Policy Tracker?
- “Trump was promising to come in and move really quickly and make sort of sweeping changes to everything, including all the agencies and systems that impact the food system that we cover,” Held said.
- Held and Wheeland began brainstorming how Civil Eats could best serve readers as these changes happened.
- As a result, the Food Policy Tracker was born.
- The reasons for creating the Tracker:
- To keep a clear, robust record of all changes coming out of Washington, D.C. that affect the food system—to serve as a reference now and in the years to come.
- To fill a food policy news vacuum at the precise moment when more reporting would be needed.
- How the Tracker Works
- Reports the play-by-play:
- The Tracker is designed to give readers information about important changes or actions as they are happening in real time, sometimes out of view of the public.
- The team moves as quickly as possible to keep up with the news.
- “The benefit we bring to this work is that we have the context, and we can connect the dots that nobody else is connecting,” Wheeland said.
- Calvert said keeping a laser focus on actions and their implications makes the Tracker easier to manage and allows for quick decision-making.
- Reports the play-by-play:
- Key Topics
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cuts:
- Rose to the top of coverage because of the sheer speed of grant contracts being frozen.
- Held said that keeping track of funding cuts was—and still is—difficult. While most of the funding has been unfrozen, many contracts have been canceled outright—like several projects within the $3.1 billion Climate-Smart Commodities Program, which has been converted into a new program with new requirements.
- We decided to keep a running list of grant program cancellations and pauses, updating it regularly as the situation changes.
- Agricultural Appropriations Bill
- A draft of the bill was released with a provision that would take away the USDA’s ability to enforce Packers and Stockyards rules finalized by the Biden administration.
- Went almost unnoticed because it was tucked into the back of a document more than 100 pages long.
- Also, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” was drawing attention away from this provision.
- Held had already been covering the Packers and Stockyards Act for years, so she said the post was easy to put together.
- A draft of the bill was released with a provision that would take away the USDA’s ability to enforce Packers and Stockyards rules finalized by the Biden administration.
- Immigration
- When covering immigration, the Civil Eats team looks to understand:
- “Another important impact of the Food Policy Tracker is that even though you’re talking about policy, you’re really talking about people,” Calvert said.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) cuts:
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- Obstacles and Challenges
- Getting sources to go on the record is extremely difficult right now.
- Layoffs, firings, and slashes in funding have made many workers and farmers fearful about speaking to the media.
- Held, Wheeland, and Calvert said they’re less concerned about their own safety as reporters and more concerned about their sources’ safety.
- The hardest aspect of tracking policy changes is navigating the misinformation and lack of transparency from the Trump administration.
- Case in point: the MAHA Commission report and its use of fabricated scientific citations.
- Getting sources to go on the record is extremely difficult right now.
- Obstacles and Challenges
- Building Trust Amid the Chaos
- For 16 years, Civil Eats has reported on the food system in depth, bring critical context and analysis often missing from other publications.
- “What is most exciting to me is to see the way that we can use this kind of reporting to reach new people and help them get just a little sense of—yes, you’re seeing this story in the news—here’s what it means, here’s a little more detail, here’s how we got here,” Wheeland said.
- As possibly startling and confusing impacts of policy begin to unfurl, said Wheeland, “That’s where we are ready to jump in and keep an eye on all these things and share the most important stuff with the readers.”
- Whenever the news changes, updates are added to the top of stories to give readers a grasp of what’s happening, with the full context below.
- How Readers Can Get Involved
- Sign up to receive posts!
- Our instant updates email lands in your inbox as soon as we publish a post, and our weekly digest, which collects the week’s posts in one email, is sent on Friday afternoons.
- Sign up for either or both by logging into your account (or creating an account).
- Got a tip? Email tracker@civileats.com.
- For secure communication, use civileats@protonmail.com. Civil Eats reporters respect the privacy and individual wishes of their sources as to whether and how they are identified. We will do everything within our power to protect our sources.
- Sign up to receive posts!
The post Inside the Food Policy Tracker appeared first on Civil Eats.
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