Sister Farms

May 21

Slow Food East Bay’s Sister Farms created new food distribution opportunities in the Bay Area for farmers of color impacted by COVID-19.

“When we received the invitation to be a restaurant partner for the Sister Farms Project, we were honored. There was no doubt about participating, and it felt like the rightful and soulful thing to do, especially during this time. Every week receiving boxes of produce since the beginning of shelter in place has felt like an act of community solidarity between us as restaurant workers and the farmers/farm workers through this project. All of our roles as food chain service workers are often marginalized, and projects like this help to uplift our livelihoods as food cultural keepers and support one another collectively to ride any storms and struggles. This is known as صمود or sumoud, meaning “steadfast resilience”. We are incredibly grateful to the Sister Farms Project, the farmers and farm workers involved, and all of Reem’s supporters who’ve enjoyed and ordered from Reem’s this season. Thank you all for helping build our vision for strong resilient communities through good jobs, nourishing food, and sanctuary spaces.” -Reem Assil, Reem’s

From April through November of 2020, Sister Farms worked to connect BIPOC regional farmers with community supported agriculture initiatives, food assistance programs, and local restaurants. Through the volunteers labor of Slow Food East Bay team members, we applied for grant funding, created ordering and invoicing systems, reached out into the network for sales, and even delivered produce ourselves!

Through our partnerships with Community Alliance with Family Farmers and Fresno Asian Business Institute & Resource Center, we connected with farmers of color in Salinas and Fresno suffering most from lost sales and helped develop a current list of inventory and a planned transport schedule up to the East Bay.

Our urban farm partners, Acta Non Verba and O2AA Farm, committed to ordering from the farmers and distributing the produce through their current CSA infrastructure, allowing them to expand their capacity and fulfill their waiting lists.

Our food distribution partner, NorCal Resilience Network, is receiving produce boxes donated by Slow Food to their Resilient Hubs, bringing the food to community members in need. We supplied chefs working with SF New Deal, World Central Kitchen, and Eat Love Play. cooking meals for frontline workers, homebound folks and the houseless. We were proud to have our farmer’s produce in some of the most acclaimed kitchens in the area like Mister Jiu’s, Reem’s, Nightbird, Nyum Bai, Friends & Family Bar and Snail Bar.

When we originally conceived this project, in those chaotic first few weeks of the Covid-19 shutdowns, we never imagined what it would become. From naive & concerned calls to organizations in farming communities and cold calls to urban CSA programs to a first delivery that fit in the back of a Honda CRV to dozens of farmers sending inventory, and buyers ranging from urban farms to award-winning chefs and small scale specialty markets — and thousands of dollars of sales each week. Every penny of which goes directly to the farmer.

Our goal was that the Sister Farms project would foster greater urban-rural connections and help build a local food system that is more diverse, equitable and resilient than before.