Crash Barriers for Post COVID-19 Food & Agricultural Systems

The book lifts up the impacts of the pandemic on our food and agricultural system, but also highlights alternative solutions and strategies from grassroots leaders and activists from around the world. The US contribution is Qiana’s chapter, “Solidarity, Not Charity: Emergent Strategies from the Front Lines on Fostering a Food-Based Solidarity Economy in the United States”.

From the fires in the Amazon, to famine in Yemen, and farmers protesting in India—we can no longer look away from the results of the impact of generations of colonization and capitalism on land, people, and resources.The compounding economic, health, and climate crises we are facing are intertwined, the intensity prolonged, and the breadth global.

In the United States (US) alone, even with increased relief funds towards the food system and public health initiatives, food insecurity has increased, millions still struggle to make ends meet, and the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out continues in its failure to adequately serve communities of color and low income. The response has felt frenetic, rather than completely strategic, and the approach problematic for intersecting crises. Short-term measures in our food system like mutual aid or charity- reliant emergency food efforts serve more as band- aids in capitalism rather than building equitable solutions.

Nonetheless, there are some signs of resilient pathways moving forward. From the ancestral lands of the Navajo Nation to urban green spaces in the South Bronx, there are emergent approaches rooted in solidarity and regenerative practices led by people of color that are empowering communities to use food as a driver of transformation.