Equitable Food Access: How to Pay Labor Dignified Wages and Support Food Access in Your Community
This panel discussion will explore the various successful and creative pricing and marketing strategies that several BIPOC farmers have employed. We’ll explore sliding scale, pay what you can, accepting food stamps/WIC/DUFB etc., payment plans and fundraising for scholarship funds so that no one is turned away from your produce due to lack of funds. We’ll dive into mutual aid in action through these direct to consumer farms. What does it actually look like and how does it function? We’ll answer those questions and more so that you, too, can contribute to a deepening of equitable food systems.
About the Speaker
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Michelle Week
Good Rain FarmFarmer Michelle Week (she/her) is the owner of x̌ast sq̓it (hast squeit) which translates to Good Rain in the traditional language of the sngaytskstx (Sinixt). Michelle is of Sinixt — also known as Arrow Lakes — ancestry, a First Nations People of Okanagan country of British Columbia and north-central Washington. She is a first generation female farmer stewarding the land, decolonizing diets, connecting with her ancestry’s cultural traditions and feeding people to help restore her community’s food sovereignty. She’s an enthusiastic member of the next generation of farmers and excited to create a cooperative business that helps build and support the cooperative and solidarity economies for a more just and healthy future for her community. Beyond operating Good Rain Farm, Michelle engages in all levels of education and advocacy. Sitting on several local, regional and national committees that focus on supporting, networking and resourcing the foundation of our food system: farmers and the lands they steward.