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OUR AIM
At Seed2Fork, our core aim is defined by an unwavering commitment to advocacy and inclusivity within the agricultural sector. We believe that championing these values is vital to the communities we serve, and we are intentional in designing agroforestry small-farm environments where everyone feels a true sense of belonging and is empowered to contribute fully.
We recognize that Black farmers and other marginalized groups continue to face significant systemic barriers and prejudices that hinder professional advancement. Our advocacy strives to amplify the voices of underrepresented individuals, promote equitable policies, and cultivate inclusive cultures in every farm we design. By honoring the past and responsibly stewarding the present, we aim to drive the meaningful change necessary to create a more equitable future.
I remain deeply committed to creating healthy, multi-generational agroforestry small farms throughout Washington State that prioritize these values. Thank you for your time and for your shared commitment to ensuring that advocacy and inclusion remain at the forefront of our industry.
OUR FOOD JOURNEY
Teaching about historical systemic issues, such as institutional oppression within farming, is essential because these inequities continue to contribute significantly to Type 2 diabetes and other chronic health issues.
To combat these challenges, our work focuses on ancestral farming principles, although these practices are known by many different names today.
By cultivating trees, shrubs, herbs, and vegetables within culturally relevant systems that mimic natural forests, we help create balanced ecosystems where each species supports the others. These cultural practices have been used globally for thousands of years and remain vital to restoring the health and well-being of the communities we serve.
OUR FOCUS
Our work supports Black, Brown, Latinx, Indigenous, Native American, immigrant, and low-income communities. We also serve both urban and rural communities. These communities are often referred to as “silent voices” or are impacted by living in the “wrong” ZIP codes—factors that frequently influence the conditions and challenges shaped by Washington State farm policies.
OUR LANGUAGE OUR VOICE
We are sharing how we frame our work and the language we use to describe our organizational identity. We recognize that traditional agricultural and food industry terminology often fails to capture the lived experiences of the Black, Brown, Latinx, Indigenous, Native American, immigrant, refugee, and low-income communities we serve. Furthermore, we are mindful that certain framing language can be harmful or reinforce systems that view these communities as insignificant.
To better align with our values and our commitment to an Adaptive Leadership approach—one that honors all learning styles and diverse perspectives—we are updating our core terminology:
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Emotional Intelligence: This term will replace “Vision” to better reflect our focus on empathy, awareness, and human-centered leadership.
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Organizational Justice: This term will replace “Mission” to underscore our commitment to equity and inclusion.
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Identifying Controllable Food Models: Instead of using the term “Harmful Food Models,” we will focus on recognizing challenges while identifying the systems and models within our control to improve.
These shifts allow us to embrace uncertainty without judgment and remain flexible as we navigate systemic challenges, including those emerging from USDA policies. As John Boyd Jr. has noted, many of these systems were not originally designed to serve our communities equitably.
By reclaiming our language, we are strengthening our collective voice and enhancing our ability to adapt within these systems. We look forward to continuing this work alongside our communities through a more inclusive and representative framework.
OUR RESEARCH
Our research is heavily informed by the work of leading experts such as Silva A. Arslanian, a pioneer in youth-onset Type 2 diabetes research and emerging therapies. Additionally, we are inspired by the advocacy of Joel Bervell.
His work in addressing racial bias in medicine and combating health misinformation is central to our commitment to health equity.
We believe that grounding our research in both clinical expertise and advocacy allows us to better serve our communities with data and research that affirm their experiences, identities, and well-being.
Care for the Earth. We know language is an emergent design in the communities
we serve. Language to us is a moving target shaped by the various unjust
infrastructures in our neighborhoods.
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We know when you focus on caring for the people, and sharing and growing seeds,
are our ancestors’ traditional methods for us to implement and achieve.
We combat cultural food challenges the addresses fair share for all the communties
we serve using methods that have been a longstanding tradition in Black, Latino, and
Indigenous societies for hundreds of years when growing food.
We incorporate research that promotes fair access for all, using methods that have been longstanding traditions within Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities for hundreds of years in food cultivation and agricultural practices.
