New York-based Providence Farm Collective is the recipient of the 2023 Sustainability Award, a recognition given by Edible Communities to a person or group for their sustainability efforts and resulting community impacts.
Each year, the publishers of Edible Communities, a network of over 75 hyper local food and drink publications in the United States and Canada, nominate an individual, business or organization within their local Edible community to receive the annual Sustainability Award. Nominations are vetted by Edible Communities and ranked based on scope of work, community impact and how the work relates to sustainability. Ultimately, the winner is chosen by the award recipient from the prior year.
This year, Edible Western NY & Erie Lakeshore nominated and StopWaste, winner of the 2022 Sustainability Award, selected Providence Farm Collective, located in Orchard Park, N.Y., a suburb of Buffalo.
“It was a tough decision, but what tipped it for us is how unique the Providence Farm Collective is in its target audience and the intentionality of their approach to be responsive to the needs of people who are often marginalized and don’t have as strong of a voice in our society,” wrote Robin Plutchok of StopWaste. “Providence Farm Collective’s program is thoughtful, culturally relevant and empowering with a wide range of benefits: community and connection building, producing healthy food, job creation, income creation and environmental benefits.”
Launched in 2017 as a pilot program to assist Buffalo’s Somali Bantu Community in gaining access to farmland and fresh food, Providence Farm Collective has become a non-profit umbrella organization with a mission of “cultivating farmer-led and community-rooted agriculture and food systems to actualize the rights of under-resourced peoples.”
Today, members of nine diverse ethnic communities from Buffalo’s east and westside neighborhoods cultivate land at the farm collective. Members are able to organically grow culturally relevant crops, such as African maize, that connect them to their agricultural heritage and enable them to provide fresh food and economic security within their communities. This year, more than 280 farmers and teenage youth tended 27 small farms at the collective, harvesting more than 100,000 pounds of produce. Summer youth employees earned more than $100,000 for their efforts.
In addition to providing for participating communities, Providence Farm Collective offers a farmers’ market in a neighborhood of Buffalo with otherwise limited access to fresh food, and it assists in supplying the Buffalo Public Schools with culturally relevant vegetables. In 2022, the collective donated more than 8,757 pounds of produce grown on its premises, which impacted 8,000 individuals residing in USDA food deserts in Erie and Niagara Counties.
In 2022 Providence Farm Collective partnered with the Western New York Land Conservancy for a joint capital campaign that raised over $2.3 million dollars. The campaign funds were used to purchase 37 acres of prime agricultural land in Orchard Park that the collective had been leasing. In addition, funds raised from the campaign will also allow the organization to upgrade infrastructure and build a new barn hub.
Presently efforts are underway to protect the land for farming and sustain the collective’s ability to empower refugee, immigrant, BIPOC and low-income communities to gain access to rural farmland, farming and business education, technical assistance, markets and the opportunity to farm for income.
“We are honored to accept the Edible Communities Sustainability Award on behalf of Providence Farm Collective,” said Kristin Heltman-Weiss, the collective’s president and executive director. “In our values, mission and vision, we are committed to a holistic sustainability model that empowers and provides equitably for people, honors and cares for the health of the planet, embodies the purpose and values of the organization, and balances all of those with the need for financial viability.”
About Providence Farm Collective
Providence Farm Collective is a non-profit that believes in empowering Just and Equitable Access to Food and Farmland. It cultivates farmer-led and community-rooted agriculture and food systems to actualize the rights of under-resourced peoples. PFC has its roots in the Somali Bantu Community Farm, a three-year pilot project. The pilot explored the challenges and opportunities of addressing fresh food insecurity and farmland inequity. PFC supports under-resourced farmers in Western New York needing access to clean, rural farmland, farming and business education, technical assistance, access to markets and the opportunity to farm for income. For more information, visit www.providencefarmcollective.org.
Read more about the the winner at:
A Seat at the Table: Providence Farm Collective’s Programs for Empowerment (Edible Western NY, Summer 2021) – How the organization got started with an after-school program and a simple ask, access to a passenger van and a place to farm.
A Question of Seeds: Saving and Sharing Food and Agricultural Traditions (Edible Western NY, Early Summer 2022) – On the importance of saving and replanting seeds while reconnecting with agricultural and cultural traditions.
