We Need to Be more Connected to our ROOTS

Where is the room for increased diversity efforts in farming and farm-based Education in Massachusetts? We are pushing for House Bill 686, which exists in Massachusetts but has yet to be passed and signed into law. I believe that before the Bill is passed into law, more details need to be included about how it will help Black and Indigenous farmers and how it will promote more diverse educators and voices into public schools (Black, Indigenous, etc.). The Bill is still great though in that if signed, it would allow for grants to be given towards public education for local farm produce for school lunches as well as garden and farm-based learning programs. As of right now, Massachusetts has minimal farm programming in its public schools, with the exception of the City Sprouts program in Boston schools.

It is so important that we focus on increasing the diversity of educators and farmers because statistically they are extremely underrepresented. The percentage of white teachers in the state is well above 80 percent while the percentage of white students is only about 55 percent, meaning that minorities are not very well represented in schools through their educators and employees. It is super important for children to have role models that are of the same or similar ethnicity, especially in fields where it is primarily white dominated, including in education and agriculture professions. There is also so much more that we can learn if we expand the diversity of our educators and farmers. Both Indigenous and Black people have such rich cultures which aren’t represented at all. Let's inspire and make education and agriculture careers more accessible for those who are Black, Indigenous, or of other underrepresented minorities.