A Regenerative Food System Can Only Be Realized When There is Justice for All

In the last several months, there have been unprecedented changes and challenges. A global pandemic, social unrest, and cataphoric wildfires and other natural disasters have made it abundantly clear that creating a truly regenerative food system for all has never been more critical. Regeneration, though, requires change on a level that encompasses the entire food system. Together as a community of farmers and ranchers, scientists, activists, thoughtleaders, investors, philanthropists, changemakers, chefs, and eaters we must work towards not just a healthy planet, but a healthy society as well.

To this end, we are grateful to work with amazing people and organizations to help raise the voices of all people towards a more inclusive future. Together, we stand in solidarity with those working to realize justice, prosperity and self-actualization for all. Around the world, communities of color, women, those stricken by poverty, and countless others suffer from polluted water and air, underfunded or non-existent schools and hospitals, food insecurity, a destabilizing climate, shrinking economic opportunity, and institutionalized oppression. Addressing the world’s inequities begins by demanding justice for every person and for this beautiful planet. As our founder, Kat Taylor, wrote in November 2019 in her letter Aspiring to Regeneration:

“Each and every voice matters because we all share this food system and this planet and each of us has the responsibility to point out where the promise of regenerative agriculture is not yet realized, where undue economic, ecological, or social costs are being unfairly and unsustainably borne by people, animals, or the planet. This is an aspiration we all can share. This work cannot and should not be done alone. We must go far, and we must go together.”

In response to the threats of the global health pandemic and the resulting economic shutdown, structural and personal racism, and a changing climate, we are working in community to provide food to those in need, support shifts in investment and philanthropy toward greater diversity and inclusion, and create a regenerative, diverse and equitable food system. Every day we are learning about amazing people and organizations working to achieve racial and gender equity, and a regenerative just food system. Sharing these efforts with our networks is one way to help them gain support. With that in mind, please see this list from our friends at Civil Eats as well as the organizations below who we currently work with or support. Our list doesn’t capture a fraction of the many amazing efforts out there….please support organizations in your neighborhood and region to create a more equitable and regenerative world.

Food Justice Resources

(Organizations marked with an asterisk are current grantees of TomKat Ranch Educational Foundation or our founder Kat Taylor. )

Abundant Grace has a mission is to transform the lives of Coastsiders experiencing or at-risk of homelessness through meaningful employment, skill training, community-building, food justice and other supports.
*Alameda County Community Food Bank partners with more than 200 food pantries, hot-meal programs, senior centers and other non-profits to distribute millions of pounds of food every year.
*Allensworth Progressive Association (no link available at this time), is based in Allensworth, CA, located 38 miles north of Bakersfield. Allensworth was established in 1908, California’s first and only planned black community. Today, the Allensworth Progressive Association continues to advance the dream of a community where Black people could live and work in dignity, without day-to-day confrontation with racial prejudice through community development and advocacy.
*BIPOC Investment Fund (no link available at this time) – Their short-term goal: provide relief funds to farmers of color and indigenous land stewards who need immediate support due to COVID-19, are leading on climate resilience, and who face barriers in accessing these kinds of resources.
Black Church Food Security Network works to connect Black communities and other urban communities of color with Black farmers in hopes of advancing food and land sovereignty.
Black Dirt Farm Collective is a collective of Black farmers, educators, scientists, agrarians, seed keepers, organizers, and researchers guiding a political education process.
Black Urban Gardeners and Farmers Cooperative of Pittsburgh works with Black communities in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to grow food and to share Black cultural traditions through a farm, youth program, and policy work.
Black Urban Growers (BUGS) is committed to building networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, it nurtures collective Black leadership.
*CA Association of Food Banks and its Farm to Food Program represents over 40 food banks joining with 6,000 charities to provide food to 2 million Californians in need, while reducing food waste.
Castanea Fellowship offers a two-year fellowship for diverse leaders working for a racially just food system in any of the areas of health, environment, agriculture, regional economies, or community development.
Center for Ecoliteracy is dedicated to cultivating education for sustainable living and recognizes that students need to experience and understand how nature sustains life and how to live accordingly. We encourage schools to teach and model sustainable practices.
Cooperative Food Empowerment Directive (CoFED) is a queer and transgender people of color-led organization that partners with young folks of color to build food and land co-ops.
*Community Alliance with Family Farmers (CAFF) works to build sustainable food and farming systems through policy advocacy and on-the-ground programs that create more resilient family farms, communities, and ecosystems.
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network ensures that Detroit’s African American population participates in the food movement through urban farming, youth education programs, and the much-anticipated Detroit People’s Food Co-op.
*Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, established by Stephen and Ayesha Curry, is playing an integral role in helping to ensure Oakland kids and families have access to food throughout the COVID-19 crisis. It has helped to serve more than 3 million meals in partnership with Oakland Unified School District, engaged 108 Oakland restaurants in partnership with World Central Kitchen to put 400 people back to work while preparing 70,000 meals/week for seniors, families, and unhoused individuals, and partnered with Alameda County Community Food Bank to distribute over 2 million meals to Oakland families.
Family Agriculture Resource Management Services (FARMS) is a legal nonprofit, committed to assisting Black farmers and landowners in retaining their land for the next generation.
Farming Hope – A garden-to-table job training nonprofit that offers paid, empowering transitional employment in their garden and kitchen with formerly incarcerated or unhoused neighbors.
*California FarmLink focuses on serving farmers of color and beginning and sustainable farmers. They partner with farm training programs, impact investors, public agencies and other nonprofits, weaving an ecosystem of support for next-generation farmers and ranchers. They believe that working lands provide valuable incomes as well as ecosystem services through regenerative agriculture.
Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund is a non-profit cooperative association of Black farmers, landowners, and cooperatives, with a primary membership base in the Southern States.
*Feeding America is a nationwide network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs that provides food and services to people each year. It is the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization with efforts in nearly every community in all 50 states.
*First Nations Development Corporation – provides food for First Nations – by funding food donations and well as connecting with ranchers in their area who can donate beef.
Food Chain Workers Alliance is a coalition of worker-based organizations whose members plant, harvest, process, pack, transport, prepare, serve, and sell food, organizing to improve wages and working conditions for all workers along the food chain.
Food First works to end the injustices that cause hunger through research, education, and action.
Freedom School Demonstration Farm runs a Fresno, California-based program aimed at empowering Black and brown youth to grow their own food.
*Good Samaritan Family Resource Center helps vulnerable families, including black and brown community members and immigrant families, access needed services, develop self-sufficiency, and participate fully as members of the San Francisco community. It helps striving immigrants and diverse families obtain the skills, support, and resources they need to overcome the challenges of poverty and displacement so, together, we can improve the world we share.
*HEAL Food Alliance brings together groups from various sectors of movements for food and farm justice to grow community power, develop political leadership, and expose and limit corporate control of the food system.
*Healthcare Without Harm – works with hospitals to make sure they are getting quality food.
Kitchen Table Advisors Covid-19 Relief – Lists a number of ways to both support our farmers and ranchers and strengthen our regional food system during this pandemic.
The Land Loss Prevention Project responds to the unprecedented losses of Black-owned land in North Carolina by providing comprehensive legal services and technical support to financially distressed and limited resource farmers and landowners.
The National Black Farmers Association is a non-profit organization representing African American farmers and their families in the United States.
National Black Food and Justice Alliance organizes for Black food and land, by increasing the visibility of visionary Black leadership, advancing Black people’s struggle for just and sustainable communities, and building power in our food systems and land stewardship.
New Communities Land Trust is a grassroots organization that has worked for more than 40 years to empower African American families in Southwest Georgia and advocate for social justice.
*No Kid Hungry has helped feed hungry kids an additional 11.5 million nutritious breakfasts in schools across America – from big cities to rural communities and everywhere in between. It does this by providing grants and assistance to schools, research and policy advocacy, and public education.
The Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust advances land sovereignty in the Northeast through permanent and secure land tenure for Indigenous, Black, Latinx, and Asian farmers and land stewards.
*Puente De La Costa Sur administers over 40 programs to respond to critical community needs including adult education, youth leadership development and employment, economic security, and health and wellness.
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United fights to improve wages and working conditions for the nation’s restaurant workforce.
Sankofa Farms seeks to create a sustainable food source for minorities in both rural and urban areas located in Durham and Orange County, North Carolina.
The Seeding Power Fellowship is an innovative 18-month, cohort-based food justice fellowship program.
Soil Generation is a Philadelphia-based Black- and Brown-led coalition of growers building a grassroots movement through urban farming, agroecology, community education, and more.
Soul Fire Farm is a Black, Indigenous, and people of color-centered community farm committed to ending racism and injustice in the food system. Soul Fire Farm reparations map
Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network is a regional network for Black farmers committed to using ecologically sustainable practices to manage land, grow food, and raise livestock that are healthy for people and the planet.
Urban Tilth – hires and trains local residents to cultivate agriculture in west Contra Costa County to help their community build a more sustainable, healthy, and just food system.
*World Central Kitchen reactivates restaurants and puts workers back to work by providing meals to the most under-resourced community members in the wake of natural disasters.
Black-owned food businesses in Bay Area
Berkeley Basket CSA / Planting Justice / Acta Non Verba Farm
Young Farmers Racial Equity Toolkit

Please send organizations and efforts you know about to reachout@tomkatranch.org so we can learn from their efforts, support their success, and share with our partners and networks.