When did you know that you wanted to work in food?
When I was studying in school, I remember this growing feeling of hopelessness in the face of the enormous challenges I was learning about. Climate change, legacies of colonialism, environmental racism? it was hard to feel like any specific job or research that I could do could really have an impact. But my roommate started a garden in our backyard and through my enthusiasm for the bounty of that harvest, I got connected to the West End Food Co-operative in a mixed-income neighborhood in Toronto. They hired me to do a series of workshops asking the diverse community (recent immigrants, youth, elders, folks living on the street, farmer's market attendees, etc.) how they access food in their neighborhood. The stories that emerged were so rich: recipes from grandmothers back home, neighbor-to-neighbor trading, favorite cafes for eating and socializing, traditional veggies from their home country grown in their community housing garden plot, carrots in their schoolyard garden? I learned quickly that, for me, food is one of the most grounded ways to address oppression day to day. I attended a talk by Dr. Vandana Shiva that year and remember her saying that food is the ultimate form of activism, because you get three chances at it a day. Finally, a world that I felt good about working within, that not only nourished my heart and my mind but my belly too!
How did you get your current good food job?
I got my job working with the Indigenous Programs at UBC Farm when a friend forwarded the posting to me (knowing I was looking for work); it was up on Good Food Jobs! I was on the other side of the country at the time and had to interview over skype, which was a bit nerve-wracking, but ended well. It was originally just a summer job, during which we started a number of new programs that were so successful with the community, we used that experience to apply for more funding? and it's been a year-'round job ever since, for five and a half years now.
My interest in the Farm's Practicum in Sustainable Agriculture had been building for many years, wanting to take my experience from growing food at a garden scale to growing food for more people, organically, at a Farm scale. I waited until I saw the Practicum call for applications last fall and applied online.
How did your previous work or life experience prepare you for a good food job?
A background in sociology and place-based environmental education was a big help for me to learn more about systems of oppression that many people I now work with face, legacies of colonialism that impact many Indigenous communities today, greater food systems concepts globally and locally, and strategies for engaging learners of all ages and diverse learning styles with the land. It has still been a big learning curve for me; I often refer to this job as even more in-depth and immersive learning than any degree program, because every person I work with has been a teacher in one way or another. I learn from youth about identity, resilience, creativity, and play; I learn from Elders and Knowledge-Keepers about medicines, ceremony, protocol, and good relationships with the land and each other; I learn from community members about cooking, raising families, listening to yourself, and building friendships. I acknowledge that while I may be the "coordinator" in title, my work is really just to help make spaces where people feel safe and supported so they can share and learn with each other, as a community. Also, my love with this bio region and all its plants and creatures helps me feel inspired and joyous every day that I head outside to work with people and the land. Being surrounded by delicious food helps, too!
What was the greatest obstacle you had to overcome in pursuing your Good Food Job dream?
A consistent challenge over my years in this job has been securing consistent and adequate funding. Multiple times we've had funding come to an end and have been scrambling to find anything to keep things going. There are multiple not-for-profit organizations in our region doing food systems work, but limited grants available to us, so we are forced to compete for a small pool of funds when what would be best for the longevity and programming of our organizations would be to have secured, long-term core funding that includes things like administrative costs, honorariums for Indigenous Elders and Knowledge-Keepers, and a living wage for staff. I have considered finding other work only out of necessity (at times when funding was coming to an end) and not because I wanted to leave. In these moments of feeling hopeless, getting out into the garden, talking to the participants in our program, helping out with the medicine workshops or spending time with youth always reignited that fire within me. Seeing the impact of these programs on the community and how the knowledge and generosity of that community is reflected back always gives me hope.
Name one positive thing that a former employer taught you that you continue to appreciate?
One thing that UBC Farm is big on and that I really appreciate is time tracking! We all know that work in the food world involves so much more than just growing, cooking, or eating food. A farmer may need to be a plumber when the irrigation breaks, a marketing whiz when trying to sell a bumper crop of squash to local restaurants, and a human resource specialist when supporting burnt-out field workers at the end of the season. A similar diversity of tasks may fall to the coordinators of community food organizations or gardens. Documenting this diversity is a hugely helpful tool in managing our time and our priorities. Tracking our time can be as simple as keeping an eye on our watch once in a while, and at the end of the day tallying approximately where our hours went that day, across the different objectives of our program or farm business (categories could include things like "harvesting/processing", "marketing and outreach", "human resources", or even distinct crops grown in the field/garden). At the end of the week, month or season, it's easy enough to look at this information and see where your efforts have been going. It can tell you helpful things like what objectives of your organization/business you have been neglecting and which ones have been taking up more of your time. This allows you to constantly reflect and adjust your work priorities and make changes to help you work more efficiently and more in line with the goals you have set out for yourself. A simple spreadsheet is all it takes - on a computer, piece of paper, or on your phone - and developing a habit of taking 5 minutes at the end of your day to reflect on where your time went.
What can you identify as the greatest opportunities in food right now?
It is an exciting time to see so many people getting curious about where their food comes from and wanting to have a more active role in their food system. Many fantastic organizations are doing great work challenging people to think further about all aspects of the food system, including elements such as justice for migrant farm workers, growing culturally-appropriate food, dignified access to food for folks living in poverty, Indigenous food systems, and food literacy education for youth. All of these things are part of our food system and we cannot manifest a more just and sustainable system without addressing them meaningfully.
Whether working on a Farm, in a city, for a business, or for a non-profit organization, I feel any food work must have a commitment to food justice. In my learning this year through the UBC Farm's in-depth Practicum program, I have also learned that we need to be serious about sustainable agriculture in order to take care of the land and our selves. Healthy soil, healthy ecosystems, healthy animals and healthy communities are all at the centre of organic agriculture and a UN report reinforces that small-scale organic farming is the only way to feed the world!
If you could be compensated for your work with something other than money, what would it be?
I would say food, but I am already fortunate to eat so well through my work. I think housing would be my choice. Vancouver is a beautiful and diverse place to live but we are in the midst of an affordable housing crisis, as more than half of many Vancouverites' monthly incomes go to our rent and folks are ending up on the street because the cost of living in low-cost rental housing has risen above what they can afford on welfare. This is intimately tied up in food security and sovereignty; when you have no money left after paying rent, can you afford the food that you feel good about? So many people I know have left jobs doing work they loved because the pay was not enough to afford to continue living here. If we didn't have to think about paying for housing, imagine what all of that collective time, energy, and intention could create in our communities!