I have always felt drawn to the land. During my summer breaks, I would accompany my dad in our vegetable garden that bordered our tiny, 750-square-foot backyard in Belleville, New Jersey. I distinctly remember the joy that painted my dad’s face with the sight of a new harvest. Whether it was a single cherry tomato, or a bowl overflowing with peppers, eggplants, and kale; the feeling of having grown something that would nourish oneself and one’s loved ones was one of pride, and gratification.
My dad’s backyard garden is just one of the many examples of how my family history is deeply rooted in tending to the land. In the Philippines, my grandfather and great-grandfather worked as chief agriculturalists where they grew mangoes, rice, and bananas for their community. Meanwhile, my grandmother tended an urban garden in Bulacan, Philippines, where you can observe tropical plants vining across barred windows, and stemming from a series of upcycled coffee ground containers sprinkled along on her concrete lawn. Indeed, the “green gene” as I like to call it, never seemed to skip a generation. In me, it manifests in the path that I have chosen to pursue in environmental policy.
Current Farm Bill Debate Spotlights Climate Justice Challenges
This summer, as the Federal Climate Justice Fellow with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), I have conducted research, and assisted in action efforts for a range of federal climate-related policies. The farm bill is one such federal policy that provides essential funding for a range of agriculture and nutrition programs, and Congress renews the farm bill every five years, taking into account the ever-changing needs of agricultural and food-insecure communities across the nation. Because of the essential funding it provides, the farm bill drives much of the decision making in the agriculture industry which emits roughly 10% of the U.S.’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Currently, the key priorities of the farm bill are being deliberated among Congress. While the House-supported farm bill primarily advocates for the interests of big agriculture, the Senate-supported farm bill advocates for the interests of small-scale, rural, and BIPOC-owned farming operations, in addition to further supporting nutrition assistance programs and climate-smart practices. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s farm bill proposal highlights the growing prioritization of equality and justice within the agricultural sector, as it seeks to fund programs and initiatives that would address the concerns of small-scale, rural, and BIPOC-owned farms which have been historically neglected and disenfranchised.
Today, black farmers own less than 1% of U.S. farmland. When examining farms across the U.S., there is a striking disproportionality in the subsidies, or lack thereof, afforded to black farmers for reasons ranging from insufficient acreage to predominantly farming livestock. Further, from a nutritional standpoint, 41.2 million people in the United States relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the 2022 fiscal year. SNAP is a key beneficiary of funding via the farm bill and strives to support food security and nutrition assistance for low-income individuals and families. To put this into perspective, from 2021 to 2022, food insecurity rates among black households jumped 2.6% and that number nearly doubled to 4.6% among Hispanic households. Thus, the question of whether a climate-smart farm bill is passed not only signifies a climate change-related issue, but also, an issue of climate justice.
Understanding Local Impacts of Farm Policy and Climate Change
However, figures only tell part of the story; which is why in order to truly understand what is at stake, I spoke to two individuals who have deep roots in food cultivation and have agreed to share their stories on the importance of farming, food justice, and fighting for our climate.
The first is Esperanza Ortega-Tapia, or Espie for short. In addition to working as a NASA Lifelines Fellow, Espie also works as a Research Assistant for the Global Food Institute. Espie began by reminiscing on summers spent alongside her grandparents growing chilis in their garden which is what inspired Espie’s present dedication to food and climate justice.
“Growing up and having that connection to the land and to the food that we were eating was so commonplace,” Espie recalls. However, because of climate change, they are no longer able to grow chili, a loss that is shared by her family, and by people all around the world who grow food.
“It is worrying to think about the effects of climate change, traditionally, culturally, and socially,” Espie says. “Climate change is not just about the warming of the planet, it is also about farmers and how their land is dwindling.”
Though the situation is dire, Espie recognizes that what was lost can be restored with the government’s help. She went on to explain how a Senate-supported farm bill would not only support farmers, but would also support nutrition assistance through SNAP, as well as bolster climate justice at large.
“Climate justice through a food systems lens means having people be able to grow their own crops, and grow food that is culturally appropriate for them–it means being able to grow chili,” Espie explained.
Climate justice is further magnified in the story of Tanya Doka-Spandhla who is the founder of Passion to Seed Gardening, where she grows culturally appropriate foods for people of the African diaspora. After emigrating to the U.S. from Zimbabwe, Tanya noticed how the produce tasted different.
“I was used to eating produce that didn’t have any chemicals in it and was grown naturally,” she recalls. This experience, in addition to her roots in backyard gardening with her parents in Zimbabwe, are what planted the seeds for Doka-Spandhla to begin growing her own food in Montgomery County, Maryland. However, the path towards Passion to Seed Gardening was bound with multiple obstacles, from labor costs, theft of produce, and perhaps most of all is climate change.
“The extreme temperatures have really been a very noticeable factor,” Tanya explains. This challenge is coupled with the fact that small-scale farmers face a range of hurdles to compete against larger commodity farms, such as a lack of government assistance, which is compounded by economic pressures like fluctuating market prices. When asked about what role the government could play in ensuring that she can continue farming, she highlighted the importance of understanding the challenges that small-scale farmers face, such as limiting the barriers to access when it comes to accessing grants.
Tanya explains, “Whereby you don’t have to go through a lot of paperwork, it just leads to more stress and more challenges on top of what we already experience because as a farmer, my focus is to go into the field and grow whatever I need to grow and make sure that produce is taken where it needs to go.”
The Power of a Climate-Smart Farm Bill and Backyard Gardens
The Senate-supported farm bill, otherwise known as The Rural Prosperity and Food Security Act of 2024 would help to alleviate many of the challenges that Espie and Tanya mentioned. But, as we await its passing, Tanya shared her unwavering faith in the impact of small-scale farms in the following message:
“The fact that this food that I am growing naturally is going to feed somebody in a community that would not necessarily be able to access it otherwise, and knowing that I am fulfilling a need is what makes me joyful about the work that I do.”
With all of this in mind, I am left with the following takeaways.
The first thing I realized is that without the passing of a climate-smart national farm bill, emissions from big agriculture will continue to see a steady rise, as will rates of food insecurity, and overall climate injustice. But my other biggest takeaway is that there is also so much power and possibility to be found through a simple backyard garden. My garden in New Jersey served as the catalyst to pursue a career in environmental policy. Espie’s chili garden in New Mexico ignited the flame within them to fight for food justice and food sovereignty. Tanya’s garden in Zimbabwe is what inspired her to start Passion to Seed Gardening and thus, grow natural and nutritious food for communities in need.
These are just a few examples of the importance of storytelling in helping us all come together for the sake of our planet and our people. Are you ready to share your climate story? Sign the petition to “Tell Congress: We Need A Strong Climate-Friendly Farm Bill NOW!” Then become a CCAN Action Member and find your local team.
Jasmine Perez (
she/her) is a student at The University of Vermont (UVM) where she majors in Environmental Studies and Political Science. Her work is centered around the intersection between the environment, and policy-making in hopes to achieve healthy, just, and thriving communities amidst an ever-changing climate.
