[The Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) in Providence, Rhode
Island works to give immigrant farmers opportunities to sell what they
grow to wholesale markets. ]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

FARMERS SELL THEIR PRODUCE  
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Bridget Shirvell
September 25, 2022
Modern Farmer
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_ The Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) in Providence, Rhode
Island works to give immigrant farmers opportunities to sell what they
grow to wholesale markets. _

Jake Stanton, the head of the Southside Community Land Trust’s new
aggregation and distribution center., Photography courtesy of
Southside Community Land Trust.

 

A magical interplay of food, culture and people occurs every Tuesday
and Thursday at the Southside Community Land Trust (SCLT) building in
Providence, Rhode Island. Immigrant farmers from China speaking Hmong
mingle with West Africans speaking pigeon English as they drop off
sweet potato greens, malabar spinach, bitter eggplant and other
produce they grow on SCLT land.

Overseeing it all is food access associate Jake Stanton, the head of
the SCLT’s new aggregation and distribution center, which works to
give the farmers opportunities to sell what they grow to wholesale
markets. “It’s a real interesting experience to have access to
these vegetables and learn about them,” says Stanton.

Logistics are the oft-overlooked puzzle piece of building a better
food system. And for the SCLT—which for some 40- odd years has
worked to bring healthy, locally grown, culturally connected and
economically friendly produce to the area—they have long been one of
the biggest obstacles in expanding the amount of food their network of
urban farms and gardens produce. Stanton happily took on the
challenge.

“He’s turned an activity that was pretty casual and informal into
something that really conforms to regulation and operates efficiently
so that revenue volume and growth are possible,” says SCLT executive
director Margaret DeVos. “I can’t think of anyone I’d rather
have thinking about the needs of our farmers and how we get food to
people who need it.”

When Stanton started at the SCLT, the aggregation program was a
loosely organized idea that involved farmers dropping off produce on
the back porch of the organization’s old building. When the SCLT
moved into a new state-of-the- art location earlier this year,
Stanton’s helped professionalize and expand the aggregation program.

Like many people, Stanton, who graduated from Brown University with
degrees in mathematical physics and Africana studies in 2020, spent
the early days of the pandemic at home growing food. After developing
a passion for gardening at his parent’s Michigan home, where he
returned when Brown closed in the early days of COVID-19 outbreaks, he
moved back to Providence. Stanton began volunteering at SCLT’s City
Farm, which teaches people about bio-intensive farming, and was
eventually hired to work on the organization’s aggregation program.

The program allows farmers to focus on growing their food instead of
also having to find a market for their food and sell it themselves.

“We’re really good at helping people to find land and the access
to grow food, but those folks didn’t really have opportunities to
sell anywhere else than farmer’s markets, and this aggregation
program steps in to help farmers who grow on our land sell to folks
that are buying larger amounts than what one farmer would have and
give them week- to-week consistency,” says Stanton.

SCLT started with the idea that helping people to grow their own food
in community gardens was a solid way to increase economic independence
and agency. The organization has nearly two dozen gardens throughout
Providence and some larger suburban properties that people can apply
to farm on, with priority given to those who live within a mile of the
location. It’s one part of the organization’s aim to address food
insecurity.

Stanton is currently working with 15 immigrant farmers to help them
not only distribute their produce to community organizations, food
banks, health clinics, mobile markets and senior residences but also
to provide training on food safety, farming techniques and quality
control.

“We try to build their professional skills and to be really
patient,” says Stanton, recalling when someone bought him a zucchini
the size of a baseball bat. “We have to teach folks that we might be
able to buy that once and then we’ll tell you to stop, but if
you’re selling to a grocery store and you do that, they’re not
going to buy from you ever again.”

Now that the aggregation program is fully up and running, Stanton
hopes they’ll get even more efficient and be able to do more farmer
training. “People still don’t have enough food to eat, and they
don’t have access to jobs in the food system that are well
paying,” he says. “We’re focused on all the places we can go to
make it possible so that people in South Providence really do have
control over their food system.”

* Farmers (2693)
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* immigrant farmers
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* agriculture
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