SANTA CRUZ, U.S. — The Nell Newman Foundation has awarded a $20,000 matching grant to support Food 4 Farmer’s new TransFARMation campaign, bolstering the organization’s effort to help small-scale coffee-farmers throughout Latin America cultivate a more food secure future.
“We look to organizations that challenge us to reconsider what’s truly sustainable, and put that concept into action. Food 4 Farmers understands that food security isn’t just about food access. It’s about ensuring that small-scale farmers all over the world have the power to grow food in ways that strengthen natural ecosystems rather than degrading them – and create solutions that are good for people and planet,” said Nell Newman.
More than 820 million people around the world don’t have enough to eat, many in rural areas. Food 4 Farmers’ TransFARMation campaign is a reimagining of how farming families interact with food and secure their futures. The organization’s goal is to help coffee farmers throughout Latin America disrupt the global food system and create thriving local food hubs in their communities.
While the idea of farmers going hungry may seem counterintuitive, overreliance on monoculture cash crops like coffee or cacao, rising costs of inputs and food, and the effects of climate change have left millions vulnerable to extreme food scarcity. On average, the farming families in Food 4 Farmers partner communities in Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico, and Nicaragua experience 3 to 5 months of food insecurity, year after year.
These families struggle with environmental degradation, economic depletion, and cultural loss, resulting from reliance on a commodity crop and limited pricing power. At the same time, a flood of cheap, nutrient-deficient, calorie-rich food has created food deserts, and has left millions of farming families malnourished.
“If we’re going to succeed in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals, we need to reconsider our relationship with food and where it comes from,” said Janice Nadworny, Food 4 Farmers co-director. “The farmers we work with understand their challenges and know how to confront them. Our role is to connect them with the resources that give them the best prospects for success, and the capacity to succeed on their own.”
Thanks to this matching grant from the Nell Newman Foundation, Food 4 Farmers has raised an additional $20,000 of its $60,000 2019 goal. The TransFARMation Campaign will run through December 31.
Contributions are welcome at www.bit.ly/F4FTransFARM.
About the Nell Newman Foundation
Nell established the Nell Newman Foundation in November of 2010 with the goal of carrying on her father’s legacy of charitable giving, coupled with her passion for the environment. The Foundation is a private foundation dedicated to humanitarian, scientific and environmental action that foster a resilient and restorative planetary ecology.
For more information, visit https://nellnewmanfoundation.org/
About Food 4 Farmers
Food 4 Farmers partners with Latin American coffee-farming communities to cultivate a food-secure future. The team coaches and connects coffee cooperatives, small-scale farmers, and their families with the expertise they need to strengthen local food systems, build economic independence, cultivate leadership among families, women and young people, and support environmentally-friendly farming practices. For more information visit www.food4farmers.org.
