Community Ag Project

Emily Davis

The Community Agriculture Project is a food sovereignty informed and community inspired resource hub and documentation effort. In this talk-radio style podcast, we feature interviews with farmers, food system workers, sustainability driven folks, scientists, artists, community stewards, and more, that provide various “blueprints” for the intersection of community and agriculture. You can follow our work on instagram @communityagproject or at our website communityagproject.com

  1. Urban Agriculture Extension in NYC with Yolanda Gonzalez

    12/04/2024

    Urban Agriculture Extension in NYC with Yolanda Gonzalez

    Hello and welcome back to the Community Ag Project Podcast. In season 2 episode 7, we sit down with Yolanda Gonzalez, “an Urban Agricultural Specialist with the Harvest NY program. In this role, she provides technical assistance and educational programming for urban farmers and gardeners across the five boroughs of New York City.” Yolanda has been in this role for 7 years, so I ask her some questions about her journey! In our conversation, we talk about what the agriculture extension does, who is serves, and what, more specifically, the agriculture community is like in NYC. We also discuss her current initiatives, including CRAFT, the Collaborative Regional Alliance for Farmer Training. We also talk about available online urban agriculture programming, and Yolanda’s ongoing Community Mushroom Educator project. We later touch on NYC soil classification, city soil lead contamination, and experiments with growing ginger. To learn more about Yolanda and her work, check out her instagram @the_agrotourista and the @urbanag.nyc page. Here is an expanded profile on Yolanda and some other links that she mentions throughout the episode: https://cals.cornell.edu/yolanda-gonzalez Community mushroom educator: https://smallfarms.cornell.edu/projects/mushrooms/ CRAFT program: https://craftfarmapprentice.com Cornell cooperative extension page: https://harvestny.cce.cornell.edu Map of NYC ag: https://mapnyc.herokuapp.com Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check out the remainder of season 2.

    45 min
  2. San Diego Urban Farming and Growing Seed with Javier Flores

    05/22/2024

    San Diego Urban Farming and Growing Seed with Javier Flores

    Hello and welcome back to the Community Agriculture Project Podcast. In episode 5, we welcome Javier Flores, a farmer based out of San Diego. Javier got his start working in his local food system at the Wild Willow Farm and Education Center, and now works with the Seeds@City Sustainable Agriculture. We discuss Javier’s transition into working in the food system and finding mentors in the agriculture space. We talk about the developing community at Seeds@City and around Javier’s work in general. We also get into farming seed vs growing food, Javier’s vision for his local seed bank, and gardening at the Tijuana River Valley Community Garden space. Javier shares the key values that he holds while in farming/education spaces, and the rituals that keep him grounded in his work. Below are some of the resources Javier shared throughout our talk: Organic Seed Alliance https://seedalliance.org The Milpa Initiative https://www.plantspeoplecommunity.org/the-milpa-initiative San Diego Seed Farmer Training https://www.plantspeoplecommunity.org/san-diego-seed-farmer-training Native Seed Search and the ADAPTS Collection Database https://www.nativeseeds.org Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Food Shed - Food Distribution Hub in San Diego https://www.foodshedcooperative.com Wild Willow Farm https://www.wildwillowfarm.org Seeds@City Farm https://www.sdcity.edu/community/seeds/index.aspx Thanks for tuning in!

    44 min
  3. Agroecology and Ferments in Borikén with Ian Jiménez Barreras

    03/20/2024

    Agroecology and Ferments in Borikén with Ian Jiménez Barreras

    Hello and welcome back to the Community Agriculture Project Podcast! In episode 4, we sit with Ian Jiménez Barreras in Borikén aka Puerto Rico, and discuss his navigations of experiential learning in his field, finding his agroecology community, and his experimentation with ferments and Korean natural farming. We cover his background, goals and intention when it comes to agriculture, and understand how he got started working with the land in Borikén. He gives us insight into his learning process for developing living soils, including being self taught through books, attending intensives led by Chris Trump, and experimenting with different ferments with the locally abundant resources of the island. We hear from him about his shifting community throughout his learning journey, and how those community shifts led to the position he is currently in, which is a team member for projects like the Caribbean Regenerative Community Development (CRCD) and Ridge to Reefs. We really follow the arc of Ian’s journey in this episode. In reflection, for people that are looking to embrace a new practice, he recommends to find good mentors and spend time learning and observing in the spaces you find yourself in. You can contact Ian through his instagram @pr.knf and @ian_jo16 Ian’s resource recommendations: JADAM organic farming: the way to ultra-low-cost agriculture https://en.jadam.kr @marco_is_growing @soilsteward @naturesalwaysright Other resources: https://www.crcdpr.org/projects/smart-ag-puerto-rico/ https://www.ridgetoreefs.org You can always reach out to us if you have any questions communityagproject@gmail.com and don’t forget to check out our website communityagproject.com. Thanks for tuning in!

    1h 22m
  4. Solidarity Economy and Cooperative Structures with Ebony Gustave

    11/22/2023

    Solidarity Economy and Cooperative Structures with Ebony Gustave

    Welcome back to the Community Agriculture Project. To start off season 2 of the Community Agriculture Project Podcast, we are delving into ways of being in community, specifically from an economic standpoint. Our guest is Ebony Gustave, the founder of the Cooperative Journal - a resource for alternative economic models. In our discussion, Ebony and I cover the values of the solidarity economy, different types of cooperative models, examples of both of these types of structures, and what it looks like to maintain them. We start by defining and talking about the solidarity economy. Several resources are mentioned in the episode that are linked for you below! Be sure to check out Ebony’s ongoing work and all of the rich resources we cover. New Roots Cooperative https://newrootscooperativefarm.com Indiana Black Farmers Cooperative https://www.facebook.com/IndianaBlackFarmersCoop/ Jubilee Justice Rice Mill https://www.jubileejustice.org/sri-rice Fiber Shed https://fibershed.org Saint louis / Marsh Food Co Op https://marshrivercoop.org Ebony’s Podcast Cooperative Journal https://www.cooperativejournalmedia.com/general-7 Karma Kitchen Established by Service Space https://www.karmakitchen.org https://www.servicespace.org Solidarity Economy Principles https://solidarityeconomyprinciples.org Essential Food and Medicine Bay Area https://www.essentialfam.org Cross Atlantic Chocolate Collective https://www.chocolaterebellion.com New Economy Coalition https://neweconomy.net US Federation of Worker Co Ops https://www.usworker.coop/en/ Grassroots Economic Organizing https://geo.coop Community Agriculture Project Resources Communityagproject.com @communityagproject on instagram PayPal: communityagproject@gmail.com Artizen Fund: https://www.communityagproject.com/single-project

    1h 2m

About

The Community Agriculture Project is a food sovereignty informed and community inspired resource hub and documentation effort. In this talk-radio style podcast, we feature interviews with farmers, food system workers, sustainability driven folks, scientists, artists, community stewards, and more, that provide various “blueprints” for the intersection of community and agriculture. You can follow our work on instagram @communityagproject or at our website communityagproject.com