These are not the weeding or harvesting kinda cuts – cuts that would help. They are cuts that have “disappeared” more than just people; these cuts have disappeared: grants for regenerative farming, weather forecasting and alerts (NOAA and the National Weather Service), internships at school garden projects, SNAP benefits, food banks, food surpluses to local food banks, the USDA’s research into ways to mediate climate change; citizens and undocumented alike from farms, restaurants, food processing facilities, grocery stores, markets, and even schools; and entire business models that relied on sales to support USAID.
All gone. Much more than people of color has been disappeared.
How many other ways can we hurt our own people, not to mention millions of people around the world? A better question – how can we help others?
Growing your own food is a good way to start, and you can use your own experiences to help others do the same. Many of us already include our children and grandchildren in our gardens. I have written three books, two published and a third on its way to being published. Look for gardening books under my pen name, Terra Bloom, on amazon. My way to share.
Support your local farmers. A CSA share is a great place to start. You sign up for a season’s worth of produce, pay in advance, and get a share of the harvest every week. Most importantly in these crazy times, you share in your farmer’s success as well as hardships.
Your money is a bit of an insurance policy against the fickleness of government cutbacks, weather emergencies, and crop failures due to normal reasons as well. Another way to support farmers is by purchasing from you-pick farms and visiting farmers markets. And it’s absolutely brilliant to be able to put a name, a face, and a place to where your food is grown.
On a larger scale, write or visit your Congressmen and women when agricultural issues are in the news. Help keep them informed and aware that people care about what affects our food supply and the welfare of farmers and farm workers.