What:

“Pointing the Farm Bill Toward Racial Justice: A Summit & Briefing” will bring together farmers, advocates, scholars, and policymakers to discuss critical equity issues in the next U.S. Farm Bill. The first two days of the summit will be available by livestream. The summit will conclude with events on the Hill and Eaton Hotel. The event is organized by American University’s Center for Environment, Community, and Equity (CECE) and Antiracist Research Policy Center (ARPC), together with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF) and the Berkeley Food Institute (BFI).

When:

April 30 and May 1-2, 2023

Where:

• April 30 at 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. - Livestream
• May 1 at 8:30am-5:30 p.m. - Livestream
• May 2 at 10:00 a.m. - Senate and Public Briefing: Russell Senate Office Building, Room 385, 224 1^st St NE
• May 2 at 6:30 p.m. - Roundtable De-briefing: Eaton Hotel, 1201 K St. NW Barnett-Aden and Salon Rooms

Background:

The U.S. government has announced its intention to remediate decades of discrimination against Black farmers. Details of these efforts, as well as the spending of the $18.1 billion directed to environmental conservation efforts by the Inflation Reduction Act, will be contained in the 2023 U.S. Farm Bill now before Congress.

Next week, the American University will partner with the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund and the Berkeley Food Institute to convene a summit entitled “Pointing the Farm Bill Toward Racial Justice”. During the two-day summit, live-streamed event summit participants will discuss the impact of the Farm Bill on farmers of color, cooperatives, and landowners and to analyze the intersections of climate justice, food system resilience, and fair prices. The summit comes at the conclusion of two years of FSC/LAF listening sessions and crafting of policy priorities.

On May 2, participants will share the results of the summit with policymakers, the media, and the public during a briefing at the Russell Senate Office Building and a round-table at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Organizations attending the summit include the Rural Coalition, the National Family Farm Coalition, the National Black Food Justice Alliance, Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, Soul Fire Farm, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, and the Intertribal Agriculture Council. 

Participants include: 

• Dr. Penny Brown-Reynolds, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, Management, and Operations, USDA
• Ben Burkett, State Coordinator at the Mississippi Association of Cooperatives 
• Dr. Gail Christopher, Executive Director of National Collaborative for Health Equity, author and expert in the social determinants of health and well-being and in related public policies
• Dãnia Davy, Director of Land Retention and Advocacy at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund
• Garrett Graddy-Lovelace, Professor at American University
• Lorette Picciano, Executive Director of the Rural Coalition
• Tambra Raye Stevenson, food justice activist and founder of Women Advancing Nutrition Dietetics and Agriculture (WANDA)
• Sakeenah Shabazz, Policy Director at the Berkeley Food Institute
• Mily Trevino-Sauceda, Executive Director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas