The North Providence resident , speaker and leader advocates for sustainable and just food systems as well as fair opportunities in agricul- ture for diverse growers . By Jamie Coelho
How did URI help facilitate your future career ? I got to work for URI ’ s Cooperative Extension Program , part of the College of the Environment and Life Sciences , which includes the free seed program and the school garden programs . I spent a lot of my time educating people on horticulture and growing gardens and working with our farming counterparts . That ’ s how I first started with both the National Young Farmers Coalition and the chapter of Young Farmers in Rhode Island .
How did you get involved with the Young Farmer Network ? I started going to Young Farmer Nights . I am dying for them to resume because you meet great people , you visit farms around Rhode Island and eat the best food . That ’ s when you start seeing a lot of challenges for farmers and young people like me who want to transition to agriculture . I was the only person of color attending those meetings until I met Margarita and Teodulio [ Martinez ], who are also from the Dominican Republic . In the middle of that , I was recruited to be on the Rhode Island Food Policy Council . I think I was the youngest to ever serve at age twenty . I think I was the first Dominican too . I loved that and did it for two years .
Vanessa García Polanco
What is the significance of the month of June for you ? June is a really important month for me . It ’ s Immigrant Heritage Month and it ’ s also the anniversary of my immigration . I migrated here from the Dominican Republic on June 26 , 2011 , when I was fifteen , so it ’ s my ten-year anniversary .
How did you get involved with advocating for sustainable and equitable food systems ? I was born and raised in Moca , a farming community in the Dominican Republic , where my family owns land and my dad is still a farmer . I have always been passionate about the environment , and that ’ s one of the reasons we migrated here . At the time , there was no environmental policy program in the Dominican Republic . So we moved to North Providence and I attended GRRL ( Girls Reaching Remarkable Levels ) Exploration Day at URI , and it affirmed I could pursue an environmental career here . Then I enrolled at URI as part of the Environmental and Natural Resource Economics program and I earned a sustainable agriculture minor , a hunger studies minor and a leadership studies minor .
You do a lot of work to ensure fair opportunities in agriculture for the Black , Indigenous and people of color ( BIPOC ) community . Can you explain how you advocate to make farmland more accessible ? Previously as a researcher and now in an advocacy role , I try to collect stories from those farmers who are struggling to access land . I am a point of contact and I also communicate their concerns to decision makers . Land access and student debt are the biggest barriers that we have for young farmers , especially farmers of color , to enter agriculture . I am now the federal policy director for the National Young Farmers Coalition .
You ’ ve mentioned in your writing that food is more than just food . Why do we need to think more about what we ’ re eating ? I always try to say food is not just food and food is political because it ’ s trying to challenge the connection that food is just something we put in our mouths and use to nourish our bodies . Food is a compiled decision that tells about what we value as a society . I feel validated when I walk into any major store and I can find plantains and things I recognize from my home country and from my food culture . When you are a food provider , a food store or a restaurant , and you put something on the menu that is from my food culture , I feel validated ; I feel seen . You are recognizing that we exist and we ’ re your community members . vanessagarciapolanco . com
PHOTOGRAPH ( THIS PAGE ) COURTESY VANESSA GARCIA POLANCO ; ( OPPOSITE PAGE ) COURTESY OF STUDIO B SALON / PORTRAIT BY BETHANY LEAVITT .
16 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2021