Growing Gardens, Building Power

Food Justice and Urban Agriculture in Brooklyn

Justin Sean Myers

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780813589008, 9780813589015
• eBook ISBN: 9780813589022
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Agricultural Public Policy
• Index: Social Sciences

Across the United States marginalized communities are organizing to address social, economic, and environmental inequities through building community food systems rooted in the principles of social justice.  But how exactly are communities doing this work, why are residents tackling these issues through food, what are their successes, and what barriers are they encountering?  This book dives into the heart of the food justice movement through an exploration of East New York Farms! (ENYF!), one of the oldest food justice organizations in Brooklyn, and one that emerged from a bottom-up asset-oriented development model.  It details the food inequities the community faces and what produced them, how and why residents mobilized to turn vacant land into community gardens, and the struggles the organization has encountered as they worked to feed residents through urban farms and farmers markets.  This book also discusses how through the politics of food justice, ENYF! has challenged the growth-oriented development politics of City Hall, opposed the neoliberalization of food politics, navigated the funding constraints of philanthropy and the welfare state, and opposed the entrance of a Walmart into their community.  Through telling this story, Growing Gardens, Building Power offers insights into how the food justice movement is challenging the major structures and institutions that seek to curtail the transformative power of the food justice movement and its efforts to build a more just and sustainable world.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraphs
• Contents
• 1. Introduction: From Food to Food Justice
• 2. The Social Roots of Food Inequities in East New York
• 3. Community Gardens: Spaces of Resistance
• 4. Realizing Social Justice at the Farmers Market: The Importance of the State
• 5. Money and the Food Justice Movement: The Limits of Nonprofit Activism
• 6. Addressing Inequities in Grocery Retailing: Cheap Food versus High-Road Jobs
• 7. Conclusion: Beyond Access, Toward Food Justice
• Methodological Appendix: The Research Process
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Index
• About the Author
• Series List