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Exploring Equitable Approaches to Ending Hunger in America: Food, Farming, Families, and Justice

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SDSN USA Zero Hunger Dialogue 

Chaired by Dr. Helen Bond and Asma Lateef

In honor of Women’s History Month and National Nutrition Month, SDSN USA hosted Zero Hunger Pathways Project Dialogue 5: Exploring Equitable Approaches to Ending Hunger in America on March 28th, 2022. Jointly organized by US SDSN’s Zero Hunger Pathways Project (ZHPP), Diversity, Equity, and Justice for Sustainable Development (DEJ) Working Group, and Howard University’s Center for Women, Gender and Global Leadership, it explored the impact of historic inequities and what policies and approaches are needed to address racial and gender inequities to put the country on the pathway to zero hunger.

Dr. Helen Bond, co-chair of the DEJ Working Group and Howard University Associate Professor, opened the meeting, thanking the panelists and attendees for convening, and acknowledging Fannie Lou Hamer for her anti-poverty work, through the establishment of her Freedom Farms Cooperative in rural Sunflower County, Mississippi in 1969, of which thousands of families benefited, advancing the socioeconomic status of southern Black people in the process. 

Then, Dr. Bond moderated an interdisciplinary panel on Food, Farming, Families, and Justice. Panelists included:

  • Goulda A. Downer: PhD, RD, LN, CNS, FAND is an Associate Professor in the College of Medicine at Howard University

  • Kimberly Carr, Ph.D: resource specialist in the Georgia Rural Health Innovation Center at Mercer University School of Medicine in Macon

  • Eloris D. Speight: Director of the Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (SDFR) Policy Research Center (Policy Center). 

  • Schuyler W. Bond: Black Farmer in Haywood County Tennessee, and Chemical Inspector  

A recording of the opening remarks and panel can be seen below.

After the panel, attendees separated into breakout discussions on various topics related to food security and equity issues. Key takeaways included:

  • Root Causes: There is a need for solutions that are actionable, replicable, and sustainable. We must acknowledge the knowledge deficit among organizations and professionals and what resources are available in the community to combat food insecurity or hunger. There is a need for incremental and systems-based change, an empathetic approach to how we look at food and how we make that accessible on a large scale, a reallocation of financial resources, and health education. To increase engagement, there needs to be curriculum restructuring and a youth to focus on agriculture through urban gardening, 4-H, and leveraging cooperative extension programs.

  • Equity and Justice: Every person, no matter their socioeconomic status, should have access to healthy food options. Lack of education negatively impacts acts of change and reform for food justice. SNAP is in need of reform. It is not accessible for all people, including legal immigrants for the first five years of their citizenship. In pursuit of food fairness, administrative and legislative reform is the primary solution. Without policy reform, conditions of the current food systems will not change. It is important to place those in need at the forefront, as they know what they need best. 

  • Gender Equality and Hunger: Across cultures, when there are household economic challenges, men and boys eat first. When disasters strike, women and girls are more vulnerable. Often, when food is made available it is not culturally appropriate. Gender equity requires that anti-hunger advocates work with women’s groups on food issues as well as health issues, for example right to breastfeed laws. In addition, nutrition education needs to improve across the board. Women need to be engaged at the program design level.

  • Agricultural Education: Employment in agriculture is not widely advertised, and generally people are encouraged to go into white collar jobs that have better incentives and pay. Agriculture has a branding issue. Better communication is needed on policy issues, partnerships, and disciplines. More knowledge is needed of raw materials and the sciences involved in modern farming. A marketing strategy is needed, and a plan to educate 8th-12th grade students about the concepts of farming could be explored, bringing younger children into the program over time.