From farm to table – Our Time Press

LEAH PENNIMAN, mother of two, is a farmer and activist for food sovereignty. She co-founded Soul Fire Farm in Rensselaer County, NY in 2011 with the mission of ending racism in the food system and “reclaiming the ancestral connection to the land”. In a speech at an organic conference in March 2020, Penniman, who has more than 20 years of experience as a soil steward, noted that 85% of agricultural work is done by Latino workers, but only 2% of farms are managed by this population. . U.S. Department of Labor statistics for 2019 showed that a farm owner / manager was the whitest profession in the United States, while being a farm laborer was the darkest. With the growth of the black population interested in plant-based foods, there will soon be an emergence of agricultural jobs and businesses.

Soul Fire Farm, co-founded by author, activist and farmer Leah Penniman, is committed to ending racism and injustice in our food system. For more information on Ms. Penniman and her career, visit: www.farmingwhileblack.org/team. For more information on careers in agriculture, visit careertrend.com/top-ten-careers-agriculture.

Leah Penniman grew up in Massachusetts and started farming as a teenager with The Food Project in Boston. Penniman holds an MA in Science Education and a BS in Environmental Science and International Development from Clark University. Li has been a farmer since 1996 and has been teaching since 2002. She has worked at the Food Project, Farm School, Many Hands Organic Farm, Youth Grow and with international farmers in Ghana, Haiti and Mexico. Li co-founded Soul Fire Farm in 2011 with a mission to end racism and injustice in the food system and to reclaim the inherent right to belong to the land and have agency in the food system as a Black and Brown.

The work of Penniman and Soul Fire Farm has been recognized by the Soros Racial Justice Fellowship, the Fulbright Program, the Presidential Award for Science Teaching, NYS Health Emerging Innovator Awards, and Andrew Goodman Foundation, among others. Leah Penniman has also worked as a science teacher at University Park Campus School, Tech Valley High School and Darrow School and was founding principal of Harriet Tubman Democratic High School. Penniman lives on the farm with his partner, Jonah Vitale-Wolff and their two children, Neshima and Emet Vitale-Penniman.

“Uprooting of racism, sowing of sovereignty” Keynote and questions and answers with Leah Penniman Thursday March 18, 2021 from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm Free. Go to https://www.kingstonfoodcoop.com/events