Food and Faith farmer Archives

November 26, 2018

Rural abundance core to justice, climate and food

Posted 12:02pm

Heartland of the country This phrase conjures up images of farmers in red flannel shirts, combines, rich soil, and giant bundles of wheat. While this can still be found, the reality is often less Norman Rockwell. Decrepit barns, empty silos, abandoned mills and boarded-up Main Streets are common. Presbyterian Today’s Donna Jackson writes about how… Read more »

October 26, 2018

Rural abundance core to justice, climate and food

Posted 5:09pm

Heartland of the country This phrase conjures up images of farmers in red flannel shirts, combines, rich soil, and giant bundles of wheat. While this can still be found, the reality is often less Norman Rockwell. Decrepit barns, empty silos, abandoned mills and boarded-up Main Streets are common. Presbyterian Today’s Donna Jackson writes about how… Read more »

January 13, 2015

Training a new generation of farmers

Posted 10:54am

The ripple effect of contributions to the Hunger Program, mostly through One Great Hour of Sharing, creates waves of support for organizations like World Hunger Relief, which trains young people like Kaley and Ester, and many more. World Hunger Relief, based on their farm in Waco, Texas, also achieves the difficult task of making connections between local hunger and global hunger. Here are the profiles of two of their interns from their website. We are proud to be a partner!

Intern Profile | Kaley Necessary

Food Systems Intern & Garden Club Coordinator

Kaley comes to us from Indiana Wesleyan University, where she graduated in the spring of 2014 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Pre-Medicine. She also received a minor in International Community Development. Passionate about public health, Kaley became an intern with the Uganda Village Project. She was in Iganga, Uganda for 3 months where she worked as a public health educator conducting weekly education sessions on malaria, sexually transmitted infections, intestinal parasite prevention, family planning methods, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, and safe water. Her “desire to see people take ownership of their health and well being” grew stronger while in Uganda.

Kaley has strong passions for development and agriculture. In Uganda, she realized her desire to address public health issues through the gateway of agriculture. After her time at World Hunger Relief, Kaley will continue to pursue knowledge of development and agriculture to prepare herself to serve in a developing country. She also hopes to apply her training in a community somewhere in the United States to help develop local food systems.

Intern Profile | Esther Honegger

Livestock Intern

Coming from Lake Zurich, IL, Esther graduated from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013. She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science with a minor in Chemistry. Throughout college, Esther was involved in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and the Pre-Veterinary Club at her school. She was also able to intern at the Champaign County Humane Society, where she monitored the medical and behavioral statuses of the resident animals.

During her participation in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, Esther had the privilege to attend a 3-week mission trip to Malawi, Africa, where she served at an orphanage. She was able to teach the children about basic animal biology and directed her teammates in helping her with daily activities.

Esther is using her time at WHRI to learn practical skills in animal agriculture so that she can serve people in a more comprehensive way. She plans to use this knowledge and the knowledge from her studies “to benefit the people of developing nations who don’t have the opportunities to learn about animal biology and health in the depth that I have.”

April 17, 2014

Celebrating Seeds with New Report: Heirlooms yes! Seed monopolies no!

Posted 11:00am

Photo collage of heirloom seeds

New Seed Survey Report Highlights Privatization Concerns

The U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance today released A Preliminary Report on Seeds and Seeds Practices across the US in celebration of La Via Campesina’s International Day of Farmers’ Struggles in Defense of Peasants’ and Farmers’ Seeds – April 17.

The report is based on surveys of seed savers and seed advocates from around the United States. It documents who saves seeds, as well as why, where and which ones. Responses reveal that many growers save and share seeds to produce healthy food, preserve their cultural heritage, and to defy efforts by transnational agribusinesses to privately patent and monopolize control of seeds.

The report is especially pertinent during 2014, the International Year of Family Farming, as designated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.

Based on the surveys and the Call to Action of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance, the report provides individual, community, national and international action recommendations aimed at defending seeds from privatization and preserving them for the common good.

As a member of the U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program, a ministry of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), joins in presenting this report in solidarity with La Via Campesina in its global efforts to defend food and seed sovereignty. The report is available to read at usfoodsovereigntyalliance.org and on our website at pcusa.org/food.

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For more information:

Andrew Kang Bartlett, Presbyterian Hunger Program, PC(USA) – 502.569.5388

Devika Ghai, Pesticide Action Network North America – 415.728.0169

Lisa Griffith, National Family Farm Coalition – 773.319.583

Charity Hicks, East Michigan Environmental Action Council – 313.725.0554

Sara Mersha, Grassroots International – 617.524.1400

March 29, 2011

Food sovereignty for us dummies

Posted 2:48pm

If you have heard the term – FOOD SOVEREIGNTY – and not known what they heck it is, take heart because you are not alone. But our friends at Grassroots International and the National Family Farm Coalition have come to the rescue. Now you can hear U.S. and international family farmers talk about what food sovereignty is to them – simply! And you if you can read it in your mother tongue, if that happens to be English, Spanish or Portugese. (French is coming soon)

December 7, 2010

Climate and social justice (Cancún #1)

Posted 7:31am

Blain Snipstal, HEART Road Trip alumnus, is currently in Cancun during the UN COP-16 Climate Talks on a Rural Coalition delegation and sponsored by the Presbyterian Hunger Program. Along with thousands of people from civil society, many coming by caravan through Mexico, he is participating in the Alternative Global Forum on Climate Change and Social Justice (see news report about small farmer participation). Here are some of his thoughts prior to going to Cancun on Dec. 3rd, while finishing up his college studies. I write this to you as I am experiencing the final days of my academic experiment (well, at least for now). Academia, for me, was a microcosm for experiencing the dualities, tri-alities, and quasi-alities that our collective amalgamation of life, which we call the world, can offer. In my final days; the world is shrinking; its once enormity is now no more than an infinitesimal dot or splash in a sea of consciousness. Perhaps, nothing is what it seems.

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