What does it currently take to access food? 

Our current food system relies on an economic design that requires continual and ever-expanding upward growth. In order for growth to occur, this system requires the use of finite resources. As we know, finite resources are assigned fluctuating values over time depending on supply and/or demand (be it acts of non-human nature or human-created). Everything regarding access to food, including the inclusive human right to food, must be and is commoditized. Within this system, we know that people who do not have economic means or who have limited access to economic means to sustain themselves and their families struggle to continuously have access to food. 

Historically, our food system runs on a model that was crafted mostly in the 1930s; one that promoted manipulating prices, abusing laborors by evoloving slavery, abusing laborors via immigration systems, and racially organizing housing sectors linked to services like food access, alongside many other atrocities. Over 50 million people (about 17% of the US population) live in these so-called food deserts, and when the layer of systemic racism isn’t filtered out we can see that food apartheid is very much alive and active. 

The current system fosters an environment where private enterprise is only incentivized to serve those with wealth, which in turn creates and perpetuates wealth and health disparities in regards to access to food. In our current system “Black and Hispanic” people (as labeled by the reporting Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve), have between 13.4-19.2% the wealth that White Americans have. Racial inequity in US food systems itself is often referred to by food systems scholars as a crash course in systemic racism and is an example of food apartheid. To truly have a right to all nutritional elements necessary for a healthy and active life with the means to access them in the US often also means that you have to be “White”. Furthermore, as indicated by the Ernst & Young Economic Overview Report SWOT Analysis, "the ratio of non-white poverty rate to white poverty rate for non-student-age residents was 3.6 -- meaning people of color are 3.6 times more likely to be in poverty in Lawrence".  

We have a responsibility to each other, particularly our most vulnerable community members, that we need to fulfill. We can create food systems that prevent people from being treated unfairly and from going hungry. We have the choice to craft a reality of food as an inclusive universal human right. Not in minimum ration. Not without culturally specific nourishment, and with the means to access food as a public work. 

BIPOC Farmer Reparations and Security

By creating a program that reprofessionalizes farming for BIPOC farmers, we can begin to establish tangible equity for some of the agricultural, historical wrongdoing. BIPOC farmers have been violently removed from private land ownership and/or cross-culturally stewarded lands by various settler-colonist entities and individuals for over half a millenia. Today we face the glaring reality of BIPOC farm ownership somewhere between 1.8-2% and falling. The implementation of this project as a public work will strengthen our agricultural commons in a way that provides equity and security to BIPOC producers. Long-term land and resource access to BIPOC communities is long-overdue across the United States and in our local community. 

As a public initiative, the products of this project will go back in full to the public. Food security efforts within the farm will prioritize our most vulnerable community members together with many BIPOC-led grassroots organizations. In this way, we can ensure that communities are being assisted in ways that are culturally relevant to their members. Douglas County would also be provided an opportunity to put its Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) certification into action while simultaneously checking three of the county’s four race and equity focal points at one time (Organizational and employee development, Open space preservation and planning, and Climate Action and Adaptation Planning). 

The Food Systems Workers

The food systems workers are specialists in their fields of vegetable production, orchard work, animal husbandry, and food system logistics. Some positions work across these four fields to assist in systems analysis and oversight. Each position has a specific area of specialization with roles including Food Safety, Culinary Arts & Preservation, Conservation & Resource Management, Animal Safety, Animal Integration, and Food Logistics & Recovery. The project manager role is intended to be active for five years at which point the position can be incorporated into areas of need according to this plan or according to needs yet unknown. 

Here is an overview about how the food systems workers’ positions are structured:

Economic Impact

The salaries of the food systems workers are $10,000 below the average of Douglas County government positions across Parks Maintenance II workers, Parks Director Supervisors, Noxious Weed Specialists, and GIS Specialists (25 full-time positions total; 2020). The first year will require some infrastructure which is also detailed in the chart. Outbuildings for washing and pack stations, cold storage, and animal production stations are essential to ensure food safety protocols and the nutritional nature of food products. Costs of high tunnels for season extension work are included to be able to provide nutrient dense foods in the shoulder seasons. Basic roadway infrastructure will also be essential to the operation of the site. Irrigation estimates (as well as outbuilding estimates) here are based roughly on the costs incurred in founding the Incubator Farm location. 

The Kansas AgriWomen state that one Kansas farmer produces enough food value economically to feed around 156 people per year (2016). There are sixteen (16) farmworkers in the inaugural cohort. Minus staff time spent in food systems logistics, this results in 13.5 FTE farmer units, or 2,106 people fed per year. USDA low-cost plan estimates indicate that the average individual aged 12-71+ requires $54.27 per week for food costs (June 2021). This equates to $2,822.04 per year. With this average, 13.5 FTE farmworkers would produce 2,106 annual units of food with an economic impact of $5,943,216. Utilizing sustainable methods, we can expect farm production to take 3-5 years to fully mature. Once mature, the farm could net upwards of 500-600% ROI. As the orchard is established, the first years of production could still realistically realize at or near 100% ROI. Below is a possible target production schematic for the beginning years. 

Food System Plan Goals

The project is extensively aligned with the Douglas County Food Systems Plan. The goals and objective headlines here are in direct relation to the plan. 

Community Voices

The food system plan included public commentary about the future of food for us all. In the food systems plan the people said:

“I would be most proud of our Douglas County food system in the future when…:

… [f]arms, farmers, and farming are seen to have the same value and purpose to economic development that local companies coming into the urban areas do.

… we have a society where we’re focusing on food as health care. 

… [n]obody is hungry here. 

… [t]here is zero waste. 

… [m]ost of the food we consume is grown locally.

… [w]e gain connection with our food again.

… [p]eople of all cultural [and] socioeconomic backgrounds can access the foods they want to eat”.

GOAL #1: AGRICULTURAL PRODUCERS, FOOD ENTREPRENEURS, AND FOOD SECTOR WORKERS THRIVE IN OUR REGIONAL ECONOMY 

Goal #1 includes four objectives with 23 sub-objectives in total. This plan addresses parts of all four objectives, including a total of 15 sub-objectives. 

DEVELOP LOCAL FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL BUSINESSES

There is an immense amount of potential energy in the existing Incubator Farm, and there is even more in beginning to utilize further currently vacant public, agricultural land. With the Incubator Farm at capacity and a wait list, it’s clear that the people of Douglas County desire more access to land for food production (1.1.4). The food systems workers will be a group of producers with diverse, specialty skill sets. The Peoples’ Century Farm will have a team of vegetable farmers, animal stewards, orchardists, and logistics specialists who can liaison with local food producers to navigate Douglas County policies and permits (1.1.3). To be clear, this is not an agribusiness model. The goods produced from this program will go directly back to the people of Douglas County. Creating these food systems worker positions is the ultimate investment in the shared-use facility known as the agricultural commons (1.1.5). As an equity building project, The Peoples’ Century Farm will directly target support to immigrants, low-income residents, and BIPOC producers (1.1.6). The Douglas County community has unique food needs across the townships, and we should be prepared to utilize current economic development tools for this project as the return on investment for the people is incredibly high (1.1.7). The Peoples’ Century Farm can also serve as a living, physical model (1.1.8; tours) for people in other places to replicate. Expansion into beginner-farmer curriculum is already beginning and the worksite could also act as a center for developing and disseminating agricultural best practices for both urban and rural settings (1.1.9).

PROMOTE LOCAL FOOD, FARMS, AND AGRICULTURAL HERITAGE TOURISM

As a truly precedent-setting food systems program, we have the opportunity to create a new agricultural heritage site that does not ignore the troubled local and national agricultural past and present (1.2.3). As an equity program, we also have the opportunity to shift away from oppressive systems that farmers and food systems workers endure. The fruits of this program will be something to celebrate as we push forward into more and more uncertain times. It will tangibly promote a sense of caring for our most vulnerable community members. With scale and harvest going 100% back to the people, there is more than enough room for realizing enhanced communal food activities and events (1.2.4). We should, as the food plan indicated, also be open to utilizing the transient guest tax program and Natural Heritage Conservation Council (HCC) Grants to sustainably maintain this program and its agricultural commons (1.2.5). There is already precedent in utilizing Natural Heritage Conservation Council Grant funding for protecting land via land trusts. In 2021, the HCC granted $59,400 (nearly 30% of its grant funding) to secure land within a trust for a Farm Bureau Century Farm in the Wells Overlook Park Easement Project. Wells itself is named after a settler who, with the so-called New England Emigrant Aid Company (NEEC), utilized congressional Indian appropriations bills to displace Indigneous Peoples. The NEEC, a for-profit company, colonized the landscape with boarding houses and mills with the intention of creating towns to then later sell or rent these the mills and/or land. Wells and the leaders of the company, Amos A. Lawrence included, were not abolitionists. These were colonizers who wanted to secure the land of many Indigenous Nations to improve the socio-economic status of white men. In knowing this history, we have a responsibility for reparations. We must understand that if we have funding and political will for land projects historically drenched in Indigneous blood like Farm Bureau Century Farms, we can find funding for The Peoples’ Century Farm; a project that will rise as a beginning point towards healing the histories we tend to fund in agriculture.

INCREASE LOCAL FOOD PURCHASING

Though none of the food produced by city/county food systems workers will be sold, the program can develop partnerships to support the adoption of local food purchasing guidelines and policies (1.3.2). With monetary gain written out of the equation, we can focus strictly on science and best practices as they relate to food safety and human well-being. Private sector food industrialists are not likely to be negatively impacted by this program. Feeding our most vulnerable people is a burden of the state given the conditions of food apartheid. In providing this inclusive human right to food, our people will be able to hold onto more of their resources for non-food related spending, saving, or investing. The program will not deduct anything from any food assistance program, which should assist people in retaining more of their resources; economically strengthening our most under-paid and access-hindered community members. In order to foster positive public-private relationships, the program can assist in sustainable “buy local” consumer campaigns where local chefs and market farmers can craft prepared foods for communal service under the direction of our food systems workers (1.3.4). 

EXPAND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND READINESS WITHIN THE LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM TO PREPARE COMMUNITY MEMBERS FOR SUCCESSFUL EMPLOYMENT

As city/county food systems workers, this program is ripe with skill and technical training opportunities. (1.4.1). The establishment of this program would directly create high-quality jobs in food while simultaneously re-professionalizing farming. (1.4.3). With the average farmer about up to or beyond retirement age, we will soon find ourselves desperate for agriculturalists. We do not have time to waste in ensuring a future generation of people who can produce food while implementing tactics to mitigate climate change. No farmer generation or legislation in US history has balanced food production and environmental destruction. We are in need of a massive cultural shift in farm practices and logistics. This program will welcome youth educational and research opportunities across all things food (1.4.5). The climate research component of this project is particularly important to our next generation of farmers who will have to be the ones to put the sciences we develop together into longer-term action.

GOAL #2: AS OUR CITIES GROW, WE PRIORITIZE NATURAL RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND MAINTAIN WORKING LANDS TO PROMOTE SOIL HEALTH

Goal #2 includes five objectives with 26 sub-objectives in total. This plan addresses parts of all five objectives, including a total of 24 sub-objectives. 

PROTECT HIGH QUALITY AGRICULTURAL LANDS

As a city/county program, we can protect high quality agricultural lands in democratically accountable ways (2.1.1). As one of our most precious resources, food systems workers will ensure best practices and monitoring methods for high quality soil conservation (2.1.2). Though land ownership is not part of the equation, the program will utilize all available tools to economically manage the land by working with existing departments such as the City of Lawrence Compost Facility (2.1.3). The future site would be owned by the city/county, which would eliminate the need for any kind of overlay district on this project (2.1.6). Additionally, this project can provide valuable input to the city/county regarding what are already contentious zoning and planning matters revolving around high quality agricultural soils (2.1.5). When it comes to agriculturally rich soils, the Kaw River floodplain contains some of the highest quality soil resources in the county. There is an 8-mile corridor in the floodplain where Douglas County sits on both banks of the Kaw. This area has been heavily industrialized since just before Lawrence’s colonization. The trend of converting agricultural soils into commercial/industrial/residential is eternally reducing our county’s agricultural acreage. This project aims to be situated within this corridor to start reversing a trend that produces mentalities like this one from the Douglas County Food Policy Council’s Agricultural Economic Development in Douglas County Survey: “Douglas county is a suburban county, agriculture really has little place in the county's future. Lands/soils are marginal, land ownership costs and taxes are high, farming is just not a viable or appropriate option for Douglas county.” By founding The Peoples’ Century Farm within this 8-mile corridor, we will be able to showcase the importance of sustainable agriculture to those who are environmentally unconscious or actively harmful in action or policy. 

CONSERVE SOIL AND WATER RESOURCES

The project will seek to be an example of both soil and water conservation. The food systems plan has already called for maintaining and increasing financial support for soil and water conservation organizations. As a sustainable farm for the future that provides all of its outputs free of charge, this project is a perfect place to make public investment (2.2.1). As a sustainable farm, the project will seek and open-source information on alternatives to environmentally harmful vegetation management. Research is already underway at the Incubator Farm site on non-chemical intervention of Johnsongrass; one of the most noxious weeds in US agriculture. The establishment of native plantings will also be central to the design of the The Peoples’ Century Farm (2.2.2). We will also implement ways to ensure all practices are safe for food production and for waterways (2.2.3). The project would be another partner to the Governor’s Vision to Water, as well as the Kansas Water Office Marais des Cygnes and Kansas Watershed Regional Advisory Committees (2.2.4). As a farm, we can research and advise on the use of and policy for greywater and rainwater for irrigation (2.2.6) as well as farm water usage patterns (2.2.7). In codifying soil and water best practices, we can create a system of democratic accountability that will not require monetary incentives for conservation efforts.

IMPROVE SOIL AND WATER QUALITY 

This project will save the city/county monetary resources by not requiring financial or in-kind support for implementing conservation practices (2.3.1). Our food systems workers can also engage the public on such projects. With the organizing and help of citizen environmentalists, The Peoples’ Century Farm can be a place that provides hands-on instruction for restoration projects and buffer zones. Motivating the greater public into climate action is paramount to our success mitigating climate change as a society. In this way, people will directly learn the impact of restoration work by doing (2.3.2). As suggested in the food plan, we should utilize the Watershed Restoration and Protection Strategy framework and Kansas Watershed Regional Advisory Committee goals to secure funding for The Peoples’ Century Farm water conservation projects (2.3.3). As food systems workers, we will continuously monitor for pesticide drift (2.3.4) while working to communicate the science of agricultural chemical applicators to other producers (2.3.5). As a principle, The Peoples’ Century Farm will go beyond the food system plan and eliminate the use of volatile chemicals within the agricultural commons (2.3.6). We will serve as leaders in sustainable agriculture. 

SUPPORT INTERGENERATIONAL LAND TRANSITION AND BEGINNING FARMER LAND ACCESS 

The Peoples’ Century Farm goes beyond the food system plan and is the most direct way to provide access to land for agricultural production (2.4.1). The county has already set precedent for the development of Ag-1 land into Ag-2 land with the proposed “agrihood” just northeast of Vinland. Furthermore, there is more than enough room to explore the integration of housing alongside land permanency and transfer (2.4.2). We should remain open to this as a potential long-term goal of the farm. BIPOC and/or beginner producers are often limited in their access to business finance and technical assistance tools. With a city/county supported program, we would also have many more business finance and technical assistance tools to support this new form of food production (2.4.3) than we would have in the private sector. Current land transition models are neither sustainable nor affordable, and the racist legacy of the treatment of BIPOC famers by the USDA is sadly not over. This project circumvents these elements to certain extents and could very powerfully support a new model for truthfully equitable intergenerational land transition.

BUILD THE RESILIENCE OF AGRICULTURAL ECOSYSTEMS

By securing a multigenerational farm, we can utilize the findings of the Douglas County Natural Resources Inventory to plan, project, and protect everything on the farm down to the most ecologically sensitive areas (2.5.1). The project would work alongside other city/county workers to utilize the “Climate in the Heartland” report to best address site-specific areas requiring adaptation (2.5.2). The scientific findings within the agricultural commons will be made available for public use. This will allow other agricultural producers and land stewards to adopt practices and technologies that enhance ecological resilience (2.5.3). The sharing of this resilience building as we learn will facilitate wider understanding of the importance of soil health, economic benefits included. The project will also serve as a place for BIPOC to conduct ancestral research. This form of placemaking contributes deeply to the resilience of the human elements of agricultural ecosystems. We cannot ignore the catastrophes of the past and we certainly cannot ignore those of the present. Building the resilience of agricultural ecosystems means undergoing restorative justice for people, too.

GOAL #3: WE BUILD AND DESIGN OUR COMMUNITIES TO ENSURE FOOD ACCESS, FOSTER HEALTH, AND ELIMINATE FOOD DESERTS

Goal #3 includes three objectives with 17 sub-objectives in total. This plan addresses parts of all five objectives, including a total of 14 sub-objectives. 

REDUCE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND TRANSPORTATION BARRIERS THAT LIMIT FOOD ACCESS

The Peoples’ Century Farm will partner with existing local food security agencies for the purposes of distribution. We are very fortunate to have the non-profit and mutual aid food justice organizations that we do. These places can exist as distribution hubs, and our food systems workers can actively integrate new organizations as they arise to increase geographical impacts. The Peoples’ Century Farm will be directly involved with food production as it exists from seed to table. As a city/county project, the food systems workers will democratically address policy barriers for getting food to people particularly in USDA recognized food deserts (3.1.1). This project would also benefit from the food system plan objectives of increasing public access to The Peoples’ Century Farm (3.1.3) which includes ensuring bus routes, bike routes, and connected pedestrian paths are available (3.1.4). Creating in-house systems for logistics will be imperative to the success of getting food where it needs to go. Food systems workers will have dedicated staff for logistics purposes. These food logistics workers will also be engaged in one of the three categories of food production (vegetable, orchard, or animal). Along the way, we will need to identify and publicly address any policy barriers that disrupt food distribution (3.1.6).

EXPAND URBAN AGRICULTURE AND COMMUNITY-BASED FOOD PRODUCTION

One of the most obvious direct outcomes of this project is expanding food production on public land (3.2.1). This would also concentrate city/county efforts in establishing fruit tree plantings, and could act as a site for fruit tree propagation to assist Parks and Rec with their food forest planting efforts (3.2.2). As a city/county urban agriculture project, we will regularly craft accountability reports that promote urban agriculture as well as policy suggestions (3.2.3). By centering BIPOC producers, we can take the food systems plan’s objective of expanding for the sake of engaging underserved communities to the next level (3.2.4). We only make up between 1.8-2% of the lead farmer population. This is all by design. As a racial equity project, we will foster an environment that goes beyond simply being “welcoming” to BIPOC. The non-profit sector -- particularly organizations in the agriculture and food related sectors -- in Lawrence has always been dominated by white hegemony and many of these spaces are guilty of anti-blackness, BIPOC tokenization, fostering cycles that treat BIPOC community members as disposable, cultural appropriation, economic discrimination, xenophobia, denial of white privledge, racist cancel culture, eurocentrism, upholding white savior complexes, colorblindness, gaslighting BIPOC experiences, and claiming reverse racism. This project will finally provide BIPOC a space where we can learn and research about food production (3.2.5) and feel safe at the same time. Before anyone learns anything, they need to have their basic needs met; a safe learning environment included. How we carry out public learning experiences within the project will be decided upon democratically. The project could also be open to serving as a model for agriculture-based cluster subdivision developments (3.2.7). 

MAKE HEALTHY FOOD CHOICES MORE CONVENIENT

The Lawrence-Douglas County Community Health Plan defines health equity as “a fair and just opportunity to be healthier”. This project addresses two of the four issue areas: lack of access to jobs that reduce poverty and a lack of access to “healthy foods and built environments that facilitate active living”. This project will target groups of people addressed within the plan (3.3.1). According to the plan, these groups include: “low-income residents, [houseless and displaced people], those experiencing food insecurity, seniors, [B]lack, [N]ative, and Hispanic populations, and single-parent households.” This will be expanded by The Peoples’ Century Farm to be inclusive of all BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people.The food-related objectives slated for 2023 in the health plan have already been met. These include: reducing household food insecurity, increasing daily fruit consumption in adults per day, and increasing daily vegetable consumption in adults. According to the plan’s reports, 21 out of 34+ schools in the county have food pantries (2021), 12.8% of households in Douglas County still live in food insecurity (2019), 15.7% of adults do not eat a daily serving of vegetables (2017), and 35.9% of adults do not eat a daily serving of fruit (2017). This project will have a measurable economic impact in closing these gaps. The establishment of this project is directly building, supporting, and sustaining “healthier food environments'' (3.3.2). If so desired and within our capacity, we could potentially provide subsidized, culturally relevant foods to culturally specific grocery stores (3.3.3). Any monetized programming would need to be decided upon internally by our food systems workers. Projects in partnership with culturally specific grocers could extend economic equity to BIPOC grocers while delivering more nutrient dense and fresher foods to the people they serve. As a public work, we would implement and democratically utilize procurement guidelines regarding transparency, fairness, economy, integrity, efficiency, and value for money regarding the nutritious food options derived from the project (3.3.4). 

GOAL #4: OUR COMMUNITY FOSTERS AN EQUITABLE FOOD SYSTEM

Goal #4 includes four objectives with 19 sub-objectives in total. This plan addresses all objectives within this goal.

APPLY EQUITY PRINCIPLES TO LOCAL GOVERNMENT FOOD SYSTEM EFFORTS

This project is the direct application of equity principals to local government food systems. To go beyond the food system plan, this project will create a new organization run by and for traditionally underserved and marginalized community members (4.1.1). Agency is often a piece of equity that is left out. By offering agency in this project we will also go beyond just engaging traditionally underserved and marginalized people in local food programs (4.1.2). Empowerment of traditionally underserved and marginalized people in this project becomes compounded by making food security a public work (4.1.3). As such, this project will ensure accessible public communications by nature (4.1.4). This project will directly increase diversity in local government appointments to advisory boards and commissions. More importantly, it will give traditionally underserved and marginalized community members seats at the table as well as a table of their own. This is a powerful form of direct equity. This project is born of food inequity, food insecurity, and food apartheid. Preparedness is second nature to those of us suffering and surviving any form of the aforementioned (4.1.6). Community food security preparedness is central to the project. Preservation methods will also be implemented to build up storages of communal food for use after climate disasters.

EXPAND CITY- AND COUNTY-LED INITIATIVES TO MAKE FOOD MORE AFFORDABLE

The goods produced from this project will not be sold for profit. The one exception, should it be democratically decided upon, would be in relation to subsidizing local, culturally relevant produce to culturally specific grocers (private sector). Sales tax, with Kansas being one of the last remaining states to charge it, will not be collected on any food from The Peoples’ Century Farm (4.2.1). Goods produced from this project will be provided to priority populations without deduction of any form of cash or card food assistance. This directly supports public assistance food programs for families with children and seniors by allowing them to supplement their assistance with free nutrient-dense, fresh, and culturally specific produce (4.2.2-4). The program seeks to provide people with food from seed to table. This includes cooking community meals and providing educational opportunities. This would include informing the public about food preparation skills (4.2.5), and inviting them to partake in culinary food systems work. This program will directly reduce poverty through its production as a public work (4.2.6). The best way to make food more affordable to people surviving food apartheid is to make it readily available for free. 

STRENGTHEN COLLABORATION WITH COMMUNITY PARTNERS TO ENSURE RESIDENTS HAVE ENOUGH FOOD

This project is a community food security public work. As seed to table food systems workers, we will help community partners analyze (4.3.1) and directly fulfill current demands for emergency food assistance. Needs are already known across community partners such as JustFood, Lawrence Food Not Bombs, Sanctuary Alliance Lawrence, Clare’s Community Closet, and LFKEats (Community Fridges; 4.3.3). The production of The Peoples’ Century Farm would provide direct resources to these partners. With these additional resources, these partners can serve in a variety of ways across communities. JustFood provides invaluable data and direct federal access services for food through institutional channels like SNAP. Grassroots mutual aid organizations like Lawrence Food Not Bombs, Sanctuary Alliance Lawrence, Clare’s Community Closet, and LFKEats are invaluable for their food systems work. These organizations work the closest with community members who are surviving the harshest impacts of our economic environments. Resources towards these organizations would be prioritized for this reason (4.3.2). When these organizations are provided the resources, they are known to expand their services with well-calculated haste (4.3.4) to directly impact those in need. These organizations are largely BIPOC-led and organized, which would contribute greatly to reaching priority populations as are mentioned in the Lawrence Community Health Plan. Education on how to organize people throughout the townships to build similar mutual aid networks would also be crafted for public use. 

CELEBRATE DIVERSITY AND CULTURAL HERITAGE AS PART OF LOCAL FOOD PROMOTION

The establishment of The Peoples’ Century Farm will institutionalize equity for BIPOC producers for the next century. This project takes the food system’s plan to support private enterprise (4.4.1) one step further. As BIPOC producers, our community need is having perpetual access to land. The percentage of BIPOC farmers who own land in the US is hanging around 1.8-2%. This has been made possible by years of legislating and physically forcing BIPOC farmers off of privately owned land. Many of us are spiritually tired from the often unattainable approach to land stewardship via land ownership. By institutionalizing The Peoples’ Century Farm, we will grant BIPOC food systems workers land stewardship in perpetuity. The best time in US history to start a century farm was in an horrifically racist and genocidal era, and the second best time is in public work, direct BIPOC producer equity, and solidarity with our most vulnerable people right now. In doing so, we will also spark expanded diverse offerings in public spaces (4.4.2). The products of the farm will be culturally relevant foods from the backgrounds of the food systems workers as well as from the backgrounds of those in need. The production of these foods could provide a perfect segway for culturally specific grocers to promote their cultural foods (4.4.3) as well as promoted as part of city/county public health campaigns (4.4.3/4).

GOAL #5: OUR COMMUNITY ELIMINATES WASTE IN OUR LOCAL FOOD SYSTEM

Goal #5 includes three objectives with 16 sub-objectives in total. This plan addresses parts of all five objectives, including a total of 14 sub-objectives. 

FOSTER A COMMUNITY CULTURE OF WASTE REDUCTION

Waste diversion will be a major focus of The Peoples’ Century Farm. Organic waste materials that are generated throughout the city and county are major recapturable resources. Our food systems workers will work with facilities such as the City of Lawrence Compost Facility to research, identify, and divert materials that can be introduced to the farm as inputs (5.1.1). This can be done in conjunction with organizations, institutions, and businesses’ food waste audits to direct their physical waste in ways that are more mutually beneficial (5.1.2). Reverse engineering this process, the prerequisite to this is eventually all people following food waste protocols (5.1.4) to keep everyone safe and ensure a path beyond waste elimination into organic waste reintegration. This will require extensive educational programming for the public as indicated in the food system plan objectives 5.1.3 and 5.. We must also recognize that there are still many economic barriers to waste reduction in mutual aid and non-profit organizations. Community partners must be assisted where possible with their waste reduction efforts (5.1.6), while accepting input about mutual aid best practices according to the needs of the diverse populations they serve.

ENCOURAGE FOOD RECOVERY PRACTICES AND POLICIES TO SUPPLY SAFE, NOURISHING FOOD TO FAMILIES IN NEED

Food systems workers can democratically advocate for community partner funding and policies for food recovery efforts (5.2.1). We currently have zoning policies that are standing in the way of community food security work in Lawrence. We also stand in solidarity with the food system’s plan to “support the coordination and collaboration of pantries and emergency food providers to increase the scale, efficiency, and efficacy of recovering safe, healthy food from area retail food outlets (5.2.2) and to “develop an outreach strategy to promote food donation and recovery with local businesses and food service operations” (5.2.3). The model itself will serve as one that leads with direct action and giving (5.2.4). This is intended to inspire the public at large to work directly with us in achieving local food security. The model could also enable experiential learning opportunities that can prepare people for gleaning programs or entry into agriculture (5.2.5). As a Peoples’ Century Farm we will seek to encourage everyone to assist in ending food apartheid. 

CREATE COMPOSTING PROGRAMS FOR COMMERCIAL, INSTITUTIONAL, AND RESIDENTIAL SETTINGS

We would all benefit from an expansion of solid waste composting operations to include food waste and compostable food service items (5.3.2). If done as a public work, such an expansion could result in Douglas County communities realizing freedom from costly enterprise in composting systems. The project stands in solidarity with the food system plan in efforts to support people in their communities’ composting efforts, and best organic practices will be implemented at The Peoples’ Century Farm. This will directly provide support in expanding public knowledge about composting (5.3.4). Support for soil amendment processes from within the farm will be determined by the food systems workers as reflected by culturally appropriate best practices. As a public work, the support provided to the farm for participation in city/county food waste composting programs will be direct (5.3.5). This will enable food waste resources to become realized in the public food outputs of the farm.

Ernst & Young Economic Overview Report: SWOT Analysis

As a public work, there are many benefits to establishing The Peoples’ Century Farm. “In June 2020, the City of Lawrence hired Ernst & Young LLP (EY) to assist the City in developing its first economic development strategy.” This Appendix synthesizes the elements to this project with the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats as reported by EY.

Strengths

EY identified Lawrence as a place with a highly educated population. With two major universities in town, The Peoples’ Century Farm is ripe with the opportunity to attract the attention of researchers from agricultural, health, social sciences, organic chemistry, and fields of biological study. 

As an equity project, we will be empowering BIPOC producers to conduct ancestral research. We can also provide access to land for cultural and general scientific research purposes to scholars at Haskell Indian Nations University. The report notes that Haskell not only attracts and educates residents, but it also “bring[s] jobs and investment, attract[s] visitors to events, and contribute[s] to research and innovation.” 

EY notes that Lawrence is the number one tourist destination in Kansas. There have been many efforts across Douglas County to get Agro-tourism off the ground, and we have the chance to create sustainable, perennial, artful food landscapes with this project. With a strong background in tourism, we have the chance to show our residents and our visitors the incredibly artistic nature of agriculture. EY also noted that we have “extensive outdoor recreation opportunities” that would only be further extended by this project.  

Nearly in tandem with agro-tourism, EY reported that “Lawrence has a robust local food ecosystem and a history of environmental protection and preservation.” The Peoples’ Century Farm is a legacy project that can tangibly solidify our commitment to our robust local food ecosystems while maintaining our history of pursuing environmental protection and preservation. We must also recognize that Lawrence has a legacy of allowing for environmental disaster. We have destroyed the wetlands despite the cries of Indigenous People and their allies. We have allowed private industry to poison our beloved Kaw River and then publicly footed the bill. As a city government, Lawrence has the opportunity to implement changes that will back-up claims to any history of environmental protection and preservation.

EY reported that Lawrence should start viewing itself as the regional city it is. Without sacrificing our identities, we should understand that “Lawrence’s location also provides strong logistical access via rail and highway”. We are in the middle of two larger cities that heavily drive our local economy by providing job qualities that Lawrence is lacking. The Peoples’ Century Farm should be in as close proximity with I-70 as possible to not only preserve the few remaining agricultural soils that remain in that corridor of the Kaw, but to also play to our strengths with attracting visitors and ultimately commerce. 

Weaknesses

The EY report indicates that citizens of Lawrence “perceive that the City can be inconsistent and challenging to work with”. By implementing projects that have tangible outputs for citizens, the City of Lawrence, as an entity that is supposed to be founded on public good, can begin to rebuild its tarnished relationships with communities. Though not reported by EY, this is a particularly true sentiment throughout BIPOC communities. Even in just the past 10 years, BIPOC community members have found the city to be thoroughly inconsistent and barrier-building to work with across subjects such as art, militarized policing, constitutional human sanctuary, solidarity with Black Movements, housing, and more. The sooner the better is the best time to reverse this detrimental trajectory; to begin empowering local communities that have been historically disenfranchised.   

When it comes to industries, Lawrence has a heavy concentration of what EY describes as “not primary, income-generating industries” in an economic climate that “lacks business diversity”. For Lawrence, these industries include education, retail, and entertainment. “Education, the largest industry in the city, is also not a tax revenue generator.” Education entities such as KU most definitely benefit from the expenditure of locally collected tax dollars, but they do not generally return public investment. EY reported that “this puts a heavy tax burden onto residents.” This limited economic diversity and these industries all suffered largely due to elements of their nature during the pandemic. EY notes further that “limited economic diversity also makes Lawrence less resilient to disruptions”.

The Peoples’ Century Farm projects to produce as much as is invested into the salaried positions of the food systems workers. In years three and beyond, the public investment is looking at an ROI of over 600%. Simply put, we make a $1 million dollar investment in public industry for a $6 million annual return in food (produce and prepared seed-to-table foods) after 3-5 years for the next 100. We do this for the 12.8% of households in Douglas County that still live in food insecurity (2019), the 15.7% of adults who do not get to eat a daily serving of vegetables (2017), the 35.9% of adults do not get to eat a daily serving of fruit (2017), and those only assistable via mutual aid networks due to layers of access barriers or protections that leave them uncounted in these metrics. 

Within these investment parameters, we can provide 16 BIPOC producers with high-paying jobs. EY reported that “89% of respondents felt that Lawrence is not an easy place to find a high-paying career.” Furthermore, EY said: “data backs this up”. As a community EY reports that “residents are concerned about equity overall”. They also note that  “residents of Lawrence face distinct economic disparities based on ethnicity and income level.” The salaries of the food systems workers are $10,000 below the average of Douglas County government positions across Parks Maintenance II workers, Parks Director Supervisors, Noxious Weed Specialists, and GIS Specialists (25 full-time positions total; 2020). At $60,790 per year, the food systems workers would be paid right around the US- “median household income (excluding householders under 25 years, 2018; $60,609)” according to the U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey. As EY reports (2019), this is $20,343 above the average Lawrencian salary. 

Opportunities

EY reports that Lawence is well-positioned as a community with attractive culture. One of those, as indicated by EY in our strengths, is “a robust local food ecosystem and a history of environmental protection and preservation”. As producers, we are also scientists. Our contributions and what we learn in food works will contribute to our city’s good position “to grow [our] knowledge economy”. EY believes that we “could potentially attract [employment opportunities] that match the character of the community and also offer higher-paying career opportunities for local residents”. This project would match our culture of local food to our ideals of environmental protection, sustainable agriculture, and the progression of the sciences. 

EY reports that there is a great opportunity to empower “Lawrence’s relatively large Native population and overall connections to Native communities across North America.” EY notes that this presents unique opportunities to grow [I]ndigenous businesses and investments.” The Peoples’ Century Farm is a chance to extend this opportunity to Indigenous Peoples in agriculture. We must face the fact that the United States exists on stolen land, and in the same breath we must extend land access and return to Indigenous Peoples. 

By “[increasing] business diversity and career opportunities[, we] could reduce ethnic disparities within Lawrence if undertaken with a focus on inclusion and equity,” according to EY. In knowing this, The Peoples’ Century Farm will measurably increase career diversity and opportunity for BIPOC food system workers. EY continues to say: “communities that support ethnic diversity and tackle equity are themselves more attractive to people and businesses.” We have the opportunity to be this kind of community. 

EY maintains that growth limits for Lawrence are an opportunity. In regards to agriculture, we are seeing much of our own agriculturally rich soils degraded and zone-converted out of existence. These precious resources are finite. They are also extremely slow to regenerate, and they are generally unable to regenerate once built upon. The remaining agricultural lands along the Kaw River, particularly the 8-mile corridor where Douglas County exists on both the north and south banks, are some of our county’s most precious resources. Some of these agricultural resources are held by entities that do not primarily engage in agriculture. We should be proactive in protecting these finite, food-providing resources. We have the opportunity to do this with mechanisms such as growth limits and land protections. 

EY also sees opportunity in investments along the Kaw River. They indicate that this “could improve access to [...] and create new opportunities for recreation and retail.” We have the opportunity to host this project along the Kaw River. As mentioned, this corridor contains one of the county’s most precious agricultural resources. An investment here would be a strong reflection of the underlying equity of the project.

The EY report emphasizes local retail, dining, and arts as opportunities to focus on for wealth generation despite noting that retail and entertainment are “not primary, income-generating industries”. EY noted that industries like these put “a heavy tax burden onto residents” while making “Lawrence less resilient to disruptions like COVID-19”. While this stated opportunity seems rather contradictory, the project will contribute to a separate element. EY continues on to suggest we “figure out [new models] for operating in and after the pandemic.” We have seen our food systems heavily disturbed in 2020, and we still see these impacts moving onward. We need new systems for both the underlying food apartheid and for pandemics and in times of natural disaster. We have an opportunity to invest in food security in times of climate crisis. 

Threats

The EY reports that “continued business as usual could prolong and increase ethnic disparities, which are currently systemic outcomes.” This is an indictment of the on-goings of business as usual in Lawrence as racist. The EY report illustrates threats surrounding commerce in this section, but EY does little to address the social threats that are mentioned in the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities sections. EY does report that “In 2018, the ratio of non-white poverty rate to white poverty rate for non-student-age residents was 3.6 -- meaning people of color are 3.6 times more likely to be in poverty in Lawrence. This was the 8th highest racial poverty gap among the benchmark cities.” Lawrence has essentially been graded F- when stood against 40 of its peers. In other words, we have a persisting threat of economic racism against BIPOC in Lawrence. This project can begin to curb this threat.

"Without proactive investments and support, Lawrence could lose career- and tax-generating business opportunities to other cities in Kansas and across the nation”. EY is right to point out the potential for Lawrence to lose this and other opportunities without proactive investments. Douglas County experienced an exodus of farmers to both Jefferson and Leavenworth counties around three decades ago, and beginner farmers today are living the inequitable consequences of a lack of opportunity for entry into agriculture. This project can curb the threats of losing an opportunity that proactively invests in under-invested BIPOC producers while generating food as a public good. 

In 2020, Lawrence spent over 33% of its budget ($27 million) on policing, while the county spent over $33.5 million on police salaries alone. Lawrence is no different than other parts of the United States where BIPOC experience over-policing and police harassment. At the county level, the salaries of the top-paid captain, chief deputy, lieutenant, and sergeant totaled $978,187, which is just slightly short of what’s needed to raise $5-6 million in food each year. Just thinking of the numbers alone, the salaries of these 5 people equal that of 16 well-paid food systems worker positions. Organizations like the Vera Institute of Justice indicate that “now is the time to spend less on policing and more on communities.” By leaving this option open for utilization and in funding the Peoples’ Century Farm, we can begin to curb the impacts of policing on BIPOC residents while demilitarizing our communities.

External Documents

Douglas County Food Systems Plan (External Link)

Douglas County Community Health Plan (External Link)

Lawrence Economic Development Strategic Plan (External Link)

Ernst & Young Economic Overview Report (Lawrence; External Link)

Lawrence-Douglas County Climate Action Plan Survey #1 (External Link)