Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding 

Whether commissioning a Pennsylvania agriculture strategic plan, launching the Pennsylvania Farm Bill, or serving on the USDA’s Equity Commission Subcommittee on Agriculture, Secretary Russell Redding steadfastly serves Pennsylvania’s farmers. Through the PA Farm Bill, he has overseen one of the largest expansions of agricultural services and programming in Pennsylvania’s history. The Farm Bill provides resources that touch on numerous sustainable agriculture priorities, for all farmers in our Commonwealth, including recognizing the vital role farmers can have in mitigating climate change. 

Secretary Redding takes time to listen to farmers and forwards the changes they want to see through the state’s evolving support for agriculture in the Commonwealth. As the NEASDA chair, his leadership sets a high bar and expectation for his peers. Since 2015, urban agriculture funding has been included in the PA Farm Bill, before many other states were really even paying attention to urban ag. At every turn, he emphasizes the importance of diversity in agriculture and ensures everyone has a voice at the table and matters in the field. At the Department, he launched a committee that promotes an inclusive working environment and we look forward to seeing how he forwards an even more inclusive and diverse team, now that he has been asked to serve again as Secretary under, now, a third Administration.

I was honored to serve as Secretary Redding’s Deputy for two years and we regularly engaged around his commitment to examine and promote ways for conventional and organic farmers to coexist. We didn’t always agree, but I never doubted his desire to make agriculture a place for everyone. We’ve been thrilled that the Secretary hired a special assistant to focus on workforce development, and helped expand the state’s prioritization of agriculture apprenticeships. We are grateful for all the ways he looks for opportunities to improve working conditions for farmworkers, the viability of farming as a livelihood, and the overt support for sustainable agriculture through his voice and his example.

Ash Richards

Ash Richards is Urban Agriculture Director at Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, managing the Farm Philly Program and the City’s first Urban Agriculture Plan Growing from the Root. Through their work, they systematically identify and address issues and challenges in Philadelphia facing the urban ag community including land access, education, and resources. 

Pasa board member Jessica Moore shared, “Ash Richards led a democratic- and community-minded process to create the Urban Ag Strategic Plan that is not only an invaluable roadmap for Philadelphia but is a needed resource to many other aligned organizations. Pasa among them, these organizations and the people they serve benefit from the plan’s ability to address challenges and support urban growers and organizations in forwarding substantive change to historically inequitable systems.” 

Richards’ work supports the self-reliance and determination of residents to grow and produce their own food and sits at the nexus of policy, planning, public services/goods, and civic engagement. They have worked for the City of Philadelphia since 2011, and prior to their role at Parks and Recreation, Ash worked for the City Planning Commission doing comprehensive and place-based planning. They also worked for the Philadelphia Water Department’s Office of Watersheds doing green stormwater infrastructure projects. They have served as a member of the Philadelphia Food Policy Advisory Council (FPAC) since 2013 and as co-chair of the FPAC Urban Agriculture Sub-Committee since 2016. 

We are grateful for their service to the sustainable agriculture community and the many growers and their neighbors whose lives are directly impacted by Ash and their unwavering dedication and commitment to an equitable and flourishing future Philadelphia food system.

Wild for Salmon

Wild for Salmon, run by Jenn and Steve Kurian, provides a wild-caught, sustainably harvested source of protein. While their product is unique to the Pasa community, Jenn and Steve’s commitment to environmental stewardship, community-focused product sales to customers at their Bloomsburg store, local farmers markets, CSA’s, coops, buying clubs, grocery stores, and online, Wild for Salmon is a shining example of an ethical business model that builds a better world and is emblematic of Pasa’s community of farmers and food advocates. 

The world-renowned Bristol Bay fishery, where Wild for Salmon fishes, is a well-managed, sustainably run fishery where the annual run of sockeye salmon continues to increase every year, reaching a record of 75 million salmon in 2022! Wild for Salmon now donates a portion of its annual profits to help sustain that fishery for the next generation and has been active in opposing an open pit mine slated for development within its pristine watershed.

Farmers John and Aimee Good at the Good Farm CSA in Lehigh County, who first met Jenn and Steve at the Pasa Conference nearly 20 years ago and have worked with them ever since, estimate that members of their CSA community have consumed approximately 5,000 pounds of salmon during their partnership with Wild for Salmon! That’s a lot of sustainably harvested protein.

Since their first fishing trip to Alaska in 2001, when the Kurians froze and smoked a few pounds of salmon they brought home in coolers to share with their community, up until today where Wild for Salmon provides sustainable fishery products throughout Pennsylvania and ships nationally, they have remained steadfast and valued supporters of the sustainable agriculture and fishery community.  

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Being members of the Pasa team for the past six weeks has been an incredible experience as two individuals wanting to learn more about their community. We’ve both learned about what goes on in farms besides just growing fresh food.

Land & spirituality

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartrams Garden was more than just a farm. More than just growing foods. They are cultured around the African Diaspora.

We had to have a reason, a good purpose of walking onto the farm.

“My purpose was to understand more about Sankofa and to get more spiritually connected to myself. When I walked in there I felt a different aura. It felt peaceful and safe in the garden.”

— Mir

Culture & history

Norris Square Neighborhood Project is based on Puerto Rican and African culture. People in the community feel more connected to the farm because it’s their heritage and it’s their lifestyle.

Management & organization

When we visited Novick Urban Farm we learned that even though their space was small, they had two farms. They had a community garden and another garden to grow food to sell.

Organizing farms is very important. It’s important that you know which plants are which and that they are labeled. In order to have healthy and good growing food you need to have them separated and organized. You can’t have two plants that don’t benefit from each other growing side by side.

One of the main things we learned is that when certain crops don’t grow right, you have to learn from your mistakes and improve on them the next time. Learn from your losses.

Education & cooperation

In order for farms to manage farmers have to work together as a team. They have to communicate and trust each other in order to maintain a good team relationship. Our experience from going to farms like Truelove Seeds and seeing teams of farmers working together was amazing. They are respectful and take pride in growing the plants at their farm. They respect each other and are good at explaining and learning from one another.

Many of the farms we visited had youth involvement. Showing the youth how to manage farms and how to grow food is very important. It’s also better for communities to have the young ones working and being productive at farms. Training them and teaching them how to manage a garden or farm will be good for the future. It’s also making the younger generation more aware of the farm’s mission. The more the youth is educated about this the more help to the cause.

Community & policy

Learning about the experiences of others working at different farms felt amazing. We also got to work on a mapping project locating Pasa member farms in Pennsylvania on a map both digitally and on a paper map in the Philly office.

Meeting the Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture and learning about the farming system as a whole was such a privilege to have had while working here.

We will be sure to take everything that we’ve learned and incorporate it all into our future as much as possible!

This internship opportunity was coordinated through the Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development.

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I was inspired to join Pasa, after a decade of farming, in order to help the type of farms I believed in succeed. Of course, for a business, success is measured in profitability. But the reality is that agriculture that is not supporting the health of our water, air, and earth, is ultimately a dead end for humanity. In the same sense, agriculture that is based in dispossession and exploitation might be able to feed the stomach, but it ultimately starves the soul.

Over my six years of work with Pasa I have found many farms in our network that are succeeding on the triple bottom line that’s at the heart of our mission: being economically profitable as well as ecologically and socially regenerative. But they are not as abundant as we might like to think, and many of them struggle to survive year to year.

In late 2020, I applied to the Nuffield International Farming Scholar program. At the time of my application, the pandemic was revealing the value of small farms across the planet, as global supply chains broke down and many staple foods became difficult to source. The question arose for me: If, in a time of crisis, local food systems shine, shouldn’t they then be seen as the essential cornerstone of any larger food system?

My Nuffield application was accepted, but my project was delayed due to ongoing travel restrictions. In the meantime, my wife Emma and I opened Red Dog Market near our home in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Our market sources from local growers (including our own farm) and artisans to create a hyper-local, full-diet grocery for our community. Launching this new business has shifted my research question beyond theory, and into a realm with real, and very personal stakes.

Now, in 2022, with travel restrictions easing, I’m heading to the United Kingdom for Nuffield’s farming conference to officially begin my research visiting farms in that region. In the coming months, I look forward to sharing about my research and travels as I work to answer the questions: Can shorter, local supply chains grow more resilient food systems? Can small, regenerative farms be the future of food? And, a harder question, should they be?

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Dining restrictions during the pandemic have taken a tremendous toll on the U.S. restaurant industry. The National Restaurant Association estimates that $240 billion and 2.5 million jobs were lost during 2020, and over 100,000 businesses closed permanently. These losses rippled up the supply chain, stranding farmers with unprecedented amounts of unsold and wasted food. 

An innovative new program is helping the greater Pittsburgh restaurant industry stay afloat through the pandemic and beyond by supporting workers and strengthening connections to the local food system.

Allegheny Eats was created by Sustainable Pittsburgh, along with support from Pasa and several other community partners, to address three key areas of need resulting from the COVID-19 crisis:

• crop spoilage and food waste, 
• food insecurity among restaurant industry workers, 
• and the overall health and survival of the restaurant industry. 

By engaging local food lovers, Allegheny Eats provides a one-stop-shop where consumers can support their favorite restaurants, help feed industry workers, and support local farms and producers.

Buy one, give one

When customers purchase a meal kit (dinner components for two people) from participating restaurants through Allegheny Eats, they are helping to purchase meals for local restaurant industry workers who have been impacted by COVID-19.

Meal kit purchases also help the participating restaurants stay open until they can safely resume regular service. Customers are also able to add a donation to their order to give restaurants an extra boost or buy a gift card, redeemable or any meal kit in the Allegheny Eats program within 90 days of purchase. 

Each meal kit on Allegheny Eats contains locally sourced produce and products. Having a reliable outlet through participating restaurants helps farmers and producers know how much to plant for the upcoming growing season and reduces the amount of spoilage during harvest time.

Local farms to the rescue 

Pasa’s role in the project centers around connecting participating restaurants with local farms, agricultural cooperatives, producers, and processors. 

The pandemic exposed the fragility and inequities of the national and international supply chains, and it was often smaller, local suppliers who came to the rescue. 

Sourcing locally not only strengthens the resilience of these smaller supply chains, it also reduces the carbon footprint of the food since it travels less. This shorter distance also means food is fresher, so it lasts longer, retains more of its nutrients, and tastes better. 

And developing relationships with local farmers gives restaurants the ability to make more informed decisions about the growing methods they support. Pasa’s involvement with the project helps ensure that the participating restaurants get connected with local farms using sustainable practices.

Pasa is proud to partner with Sustainable Pittsburgh on Allegheny Eats, a program which not only addresses the immediate crisis, but also provides a blueprint for a more sustainable food system future.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation funded the Allegheny Eats project as part of a COVID-19 Economic Impact and Recovery grant.

Learn more about Allegheny Eats >> 

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We also acknowledge that the death of a human being is too high a bar for evoking mass empathy and outrage for racial injustice. As an organization with a mission to build a healthier food system, we know we cannot succeed in advancing human and environmental health without addressing the deleterious effects of structural racism in agriculture.

Farming is one of the least racially diverse professions in the nation—today, less than 2% of farmers in America are Black. From slavery, to segregationist Jim Crow laws, to USDA lending practices that discriminated against Black farmers, our country has systematically committed violence against Black people through agriculture and disenfranchised Black Americans from owning agricultural land, though there have been no shortage of promises. Centuries of chronic oppression have stigmatized what can be a fulfilling profession—one that can heal ourselves and our planet; strengthen local economies and communities; and preserve cultural traditions associated with growing and preparing food from generation to generation.

While the story of how overt and structural racism has built and continues to shape our food system is familiar to many of us, it can nonetheless be too often unacknowledged or forgotten in our collective work. Also woefully unrecognized are the contributions of Afro-Indigenous peoples to sustainable agriculture. Many of the regenerative farming methods considered innovative today—including agroforestry, diversified crop rotations, and cover cropping—were traditionally practiced by African and Indigenous cultures before the advent of our modern food system. 

Here at Pasa, we commit to taking decisive action to better support and engage Black, Indigenous, and People of Color to hold positions of influence and leadership in our agricultural communities, on the staff of our agencies, on our boards, and within our programs. We cannot successfully achieve our organization’s mission without understanding how the legacy of slavery, conscious discrimination and unconscious bias, and structural racism have disconnected and displaced multicultural BIPOC communities from the land—and without taking meaningful action to address the resulting inequities. 

We encourage you to join us in financially supporting organizations working to specifically lift up Black farmers and address racial inequities in the food system. What follows  is just a small list of the many organizations we follow. (If you know of other organizations that we should include in this list, please let us know.)

Local and regional organizations:

• Black Urban Gardeners & Farmers of Pittsburgh Co-op
• Grow Pittsburgh
• Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group 
• One Art Community Center & Farm (Philadelphia)
• Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram’s Garden (Philadelphia)
• Sankofa Village Community Farm (Pittsburgh)
• Soil Generation (Philadelphia)
• Soul Fire Farm (Northeast)
• The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust
• Urban Tree Connection (Philadelphia) 

National organizations:

• Association of Black Farmers and Agriculturalists
• Black Church Food Security Network
• Black Urban Growers
• Castanea Fellowship
• Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive 
• Family Agriculture Resource Management Services
• Food Chain Workers Alliance 
• HEAL Food Alliance
• Justice for Black Farmers
• National Black Farmers Association
• National Black Food and Justice Alliance 

We also recommend these books and podcasts that both explore racism in agriculture and the vital contributions of Black farmers.

• Black Food Geographies by Ashanté M. Reese
• Dispossession by Pete Daniel
• Farming While Black by Leah Penniman 
• Freedom Farmers by Monica M. White
• The Cooking Gene by Michael Twitty
• “The Land of Our Fathers: Parts 1 & 2” (from the New York Times’ 1619 podcast)

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