Tim Bradford has education at the top of his mind. As the Program Coordinator for the Society of Saint Andrew (SoSA) in Jackson, Mississippi, Tim organizes food drops and develops gleaning activities with farmers, serving food insecure communities across the state. Tim also founded and runs the Grower Incentives Program, an organization that encompasses Growers Feeding Families, which he began at the SoSA. The Growers Feeding Families program supports small farmers seeking to grow their operations and diversify their crops. The program provides farmers with vegetable seeds and resources, including educational training, to grow several acres of vegetables like okra, cucumbers, peas, kale, collards, turnips and mustards, alongside their traditional row crops of soybeans and corn. Diversification in the field pads farmers’ incomes, contributes to soil’s long term health, and helps Tim source a variety of fresh vegetables to distribute all over Mississippi. Ultimately, Tim hopes to teach community members, not just farmers, about the value of growing their own food.
Tim’s work is crucial in a state that, from a public health standpoint, suffers from a food insecurity epidemic: Mississippi’s sixteen percent food insecurity rate is roughly four percent higher than the national average. The risk of food insecurity also compounds the risk of mental health problems, obesity, anemia and asthma, according to the United Health Foundation.
Tim sees knowledge about growing food, and having a choice in what one eats, as important to improving individual health. “When people are growing for themselves, they can grow what they like and what’s nutritious for them. Choice and preference are intertwined.” Tim’s observations lend insight into the common critique of food donation programs. While necessary for many counties across the country, donated food often lacks variety and rarely includes fresh produce.
Of course, the question of choice comes back to resource access. State and federal policies are largely responsible for individuals’ access to education and land on which to grow food, in addition to healthcare, job opportunities and other resources necessary for a community’s stability. Tim’s efforts form part of a bottom-up solution to a problem that needs attention from the top-down.
Tim’s upbringing and education have informed his vision for the health of Mississippi. He was raised on his family’s farm in Isola, Mississippi, where he has raised his four sons and still farms today. He studied agronomy, taught for 25 years, and served as the state director of SkillsUSA, an organization that trains high school and college students in technical occupations. Christianity also guides his work. “I love being able to bless people with the products that the growers are blessed to grow,” Tim said. “We believe that if we just follow what the Lord wants us to do, that He’s going to heal our land.”
I let Tim’s words and vision sit with me. Healing the land could help solve many of the health and environmental problems that disproportionately plague Mississippi. Crop diversity supports soil health, helping offset the need for chemicals that contribute to climate change and its effects, prevalent in the state year-round. “We’re used to it,” Tim said of the four to five hurricanes, springtime tornados, and severe floods that Mississippi deals with on a yearly basis.
‘Healing the land,’ more figuratively, speaks to offering people healing, by way of the land. Crop diversity gives people choices of what to eat when policies that perpetuate poverty cycles, especially among African Americans in the rural South, may otherwise limit choices in life. Tim hopes to offer healing by enhancing people’s opportunities to choose—directly from the land.
Healthy land, healthy people. “My greatest vision is not to have a community garden where people can grow among themselves, but to have a community that gardens.” Tim seeks to cultivate a mindset around nutrition, not just a garden. His vision begins with farmers like Shannon Goff of Eubanks Produce, who, as a cohort of Tim’s Grower Incentives Program, has started growing cucumbers alongside his row crops. Last month, Shannon donated four truckloads of cucumbers, which the SoSA distributed to churches and charitable organizations across the state.
Next in Tim’s plans to help diversify Mississippi’s food system? “Fruit trees, nut trees, and the whole nine yards.” We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Tim and SoSA.
These changes are great. But how’s it all going to be funded?
During the comment process, Farmlink, as well as other food rescue organizations and coalitions, raised critical questions about how the strategy would be funded and, as a result, which measures are feasible. In particular, we hoped for more clarity beyond the draft’s statement that the USDA would use American Rescue Plan Act and Inflation Reduction Act funds and the EPA would use Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funds. Of the 86 programs or initiatives reviewed in the final strategy, only 15 are completely new programs announced in the strategy.
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The other 71 are existing programs or initiatives that either already have a food loss and waste focus or that the national strategy has repackaged as food loss and waste solutions. While we had hopes of new, innovative programs being included in the strategy, the good news with these 71 programs is that most, if not all, are already funded, meaning that they are not reliant on an increasingly turbulent Congress for implementation. Of the 15 new programs, which included the EPA’s new consumer education campaign and several new cooperative agreements with land-grant universities, only 2 had specific funding mechanisms. It has become increasingly clear that food rescue organizations and other stakeholders in the food and agriculture space should not consider this strategy as a new rollout of FLW solutions, programs, and funding but rather as an evaluation of the current resources and solutions and how each can be most effectively utilized to achieve the strategy’s goals. In particular, the framing of many of USDA’s programs as FLW solutions offers opportunities to utilize existing funding, data, and infrastructure to solve one of the United States’s most pressing problems.
Whats next?
Now that we have the strategy, it’s time to truly take advantage of the opportunities it presents. In the immediate future at Farmlink, we’re excited to continue optimizing Section 32 as a critical on-farm food loss solution as we anticipate significant surplus recoveries in the fall. As we move forward, we continue to advocate for dignity with food distribution, emphasizing cultural appropriateness and quality in every pound of food we rescue. As outlined in our comments, food rescue organizations are critical stakeholders and thought partners for the agencies. Our inclusion in the strategy as such is an opportunity we are taking full advantage of to help guide federal action to support farmers, feed communities, and heal the planet.
< BackTim Bradford has education at the top of his mind. As the Program Coordinator for the Society of Saint Andrew (SoSA) in Jackson, Mississippi, Tim organizes food drops and develops gleaning activities with farmers, serving food insecure communities across the state. Tim also founded and runs the Grower Incentives Program, an organization that encompasses Growers Feeding Families, which he began at the SoSA. The Growers Feeding Families program supports small farmers seeking to grow their operations and diversify their crops. The program provides farmers with vegetable seeds and resources, including educational training, to grow several acres of vegetables like okra, cucumbers, peas, kale, collards, turnips and mustards, alongside their traditional row crops of soybeans and corn. Diversification in the field pads farmers’ incomes, contributes to soil’s long term health, and helps Tim source a variety of fresh vegetables to distribute all over Mississippi. Ultimately, Tim hopes to teach community members, not just farmers, about the value of growing their own food.
Tim’s work is crucial in a state that, from a public health standpoint, suffers from a food insecurity epidemic: Mississippi’s sixteen percent food insecurity rate is roughly four percent higher than the national average. The risk of food insecurity also compounds the risk of mental health problems, obesity, anemia and asthma, according to the United Health Foundation.
Tim sees knowledge about growing food, and having a choice in what one eats, as important to improving individual health. “When people are growing for themselves, they can grow what they like and what’s nutritious for them. Choice and preference are intertwined.” Tim’s observations lend insight into the common critique of food donation programs. While necessary for many counties across the country, donated food often lacks variety and rarely includes fresh produce.
Of course, the question of choice comes back to resource access. State and federal policies are largely responsible for individuals’ access to education and land on which to grow food, in addition to healthcare, job opportunities and other resources necessary for a community’s stability. Tim’s efforts form part of a bottom-up solution to a problem that needs attention from the top-down.
Tim’s upbringing and education have informed his vision for the health of Mississippi. He was raised on his family’s farm in Isola, Mississippi, where he has raised his four sons and still farms today. He studied agronomy, taught for 25 years, and served as the state director of SkillsUSA, an organization that trains high school and college students in technical occupations. Christianity also guides his work. “I love being able to bless people with the products that the growers are blessed to grow,” Tim said. “We believe that if we just follow what the Lord wants us to do, that He’s going to heal our land.”
I let Tim’s words and vision sit with me. Healing the land could help solve many of the health and environmental problems that disproportionately plague Mississippi. Crop diversity supports soil health, helping offset the need for chemicals that contribute to climate change and its effects, prevalent in the state year-round. “We’re used to it,” Tim said of the four to five hurricanes, springtime tornados, and severe floods that Mississippi deals with on a yearly basis.
‘Healing the land,’ more figuratively, speaks to offering people healing, by way of the land. Crop diversity gives people choices of what to eat when policies that perpetuate poverty cycles, especially among African Americans in the rural South, may otherwise limit choices in life. Tim hopes to offer healing by enhancing people’s opportunities to choose—directly from the land.
Healthy land, healthy people. “My greatest vision is not to have a community garden where people can grow among themselves, but to have a community that gardens.” Tim seeks to cultivate a mindset around nutrition, not just a garden. His vision begins with farmers like Shannon Goff of Eubanks Produce, who, as a cohort of Tim’s Grower Incentives Program, has started growing cucumbers alongside his row crops. Last month, Shannon donated four truckloads of cucumbers, which the SoSA distributed to churches and charitable organizations across the state.
Next in Tim’s plans to help diversify Mississippi’s food system? “Fruit trees, nut trees, and the whole nine yards.” We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Tim and SoSA.
Tim Bradford
Program Coordinator for the Society of Saint Andrew (SoSA)
Tim Bradford has education at the top of his mind. As the Program Coordinator for the Society of Saint Andrew (SoSA) in Jackson, Mississippi, Tim organizes food drops and develops gleaning activities with farmers, serving food insecure communities across the state. Tim also founded and runs the Grower Incentives Program, an organization that encompasses Growers Feeding Families, which he began at the SoSA. The Growers Feeding Families program supports small farmers seeking to grow their operations and diversify their crops. The program provides farmers with vegetable seeds and resources, including educational training, to grow several acres of vegetables like okra, cucumbers, peas, kale, collards, turnips and mustards, alongside their traditional row crops of soybeans and corn. Diversification in the field pads farmers’ incomes, contributes to soil’s long term health, and helps Tim source a variety of fresh vegetables to distribute all over Mississippi. Ultimately, Tim hopes to teach community members, not just farmers, about the value of growing their own food.
Tim’s work is crucial in a state that, from a public health standpoint, suffers from a food insecurity epidemic: Mississippi’s sixteen percent food insecurity rate is roughly four percent higher than the national average. The risk of food insecurity also compounds the risk of mental health problems, obesity, anemia and asthma, according to the United Health Foundation.
Tim sees knowledge about growing food, and having a choice in what one eats, as important to improving individual health. “When people are growing for themselves, they can grow what they like and what’s nutritious for them. Choice and preference are intertwined.” Tim’s observations lend insight into the common critique of food donation programs. While necessary for many counties across the country, donated food often lacks variety and rarely includes fresh produce.
Of course, the question of choice comes back to resource access. State and federal policies are largely responsible for individuals’ access to education and land on which to grow food, in addition to healthcare, job opportunities and other resources necessary for a community’s stability. Tim’s efforts form part of a bottom-up solution to a problem that needs attention from the top-down.
Tim’s upbringing and education have informed his vision for the health of Mississippi. He was raised on his family’s farm in Isola, Mississippi, where he has raised his four sons and still farms today. He studied agronomy, taught for 25 years, and served as the state director of SkillsUSA, an organization that trains high school and college students in technical occupations. Christianity also guides his work. “I love being able to bless people with the products that the growers are blessed to grow,” Tim said. “We believe that if we just follow what the Lord wants us to do, that He’s going to heal our land.”
I let Tim’s words and vision sit with me. Healing the land could help solve many of the health and environmental problems that disproportionately plague Mississippi. Crop diversity supports soil health, helping offset the need for chemicals that contribute to climate change and its effects, prevalent in the state year-round. “We’re used to it,” Tim said of the four to five hurricanes, springtime tornados, and severe floods that Mississippi deals with on a yearly basis.
‘Healing the land,’ more figuratively, speaks to offering people healing, by way of the land. Crop diversity gives people choices of what to eat when policies that perpetuate poverty cycles, especially among African Americans in the rural South, may otherwise limit choices in life. Tim hopes to offer healing by enhancing people’s opportunities to choose—directly from the land.
Healthy land, healthy people. “My greatest vision is not to have a community garden where people can grow among themselves, but to have a community that gardens.” Tim seeks to cultivate a mindset around nutrition, not just a garden. His vision begins with farmers like Shannon Goff of Eubanks Produce, who, as a cohort of Tim’s Grower Incentives Program, has started growing cucumbers alongside his row crops. Last month, Shannon donated four truckloads of cucumbers, which the SoSA distributed to churches and charitable organizations across the state.
Next in Tim’s plans to help diversify Mississippi’s food system? “Fruit trees, nut trees, and the whole nine yards.” We look forward to continuing our collaboration with Tim and SoSA.
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