Food Justice is Racial Justice

How York Fresh Food Farms is growing change in the community.

BY: JJ SHEFFER Director, Community Programs

Fresh produce may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of equality, but York Fresh Food Farms (Y3F) knows that access to it strongly influences both personal and public health outcomes. The nonprofit organization operates under the guiding principle that all people deserve access to affordable, healthy foods.

“We believe that access promotes equality and can really influence people’s health outcomes, their life outcomes,” says Assistant Farm Manager Selah Phillips.

Their mission is to cultivate community health through agriculture, access, and affordability.

PHOTO CREDIT: York Fresh Food Farms

Phillips also manages operations for the mobile produce market, which allows Y3F to make their produce available in low-income neighborhoods throughout the city, so that residents have access to affordable, fresh food within a three-block radius of where they live. Their pop-ups are coordinated with locations and activities people are already visiting, such as school pickup time and corner stores that already accept PA SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) EBT cards. Y3F is able to keep their cost low because they grow most of the food themselves – at their organic farms in the City of York – and supplement their inventory with items grown on other York County farms.

York Fresh Food Farms

We believe that access promotes equality and can really influence people’s health outcomes, their life outcomes.

The organization is small, and uses partnerships to leverage additional capacity to serve the community. The School District of the City of York is using CARES Act funding to distribute free Y3F produce boxes to 80-100 families in need every week throughout the summer. York Fresh Food Farms also offers a free summer farm-based learning program for children, hosting the program at their Willis Farm, where the curriculum and implementation are handled by the York County Master Gardeners.

Collaborations like these are complemented by the mobile produce market and – new in 2021 – a dedicated farm stand in the Parkway Homes neighborhood, at Parkway Boulevard and Willis Road.

This space, right by the farm, is a safe place for families to shop for healthy foods right in the neighborhood. It’s being offered as part of the mobile produce market season, which runs from June 4 through November 5.

The general public is welcome to shop at any of the mobile produce market locations. “Our goal is to make it accessible to everyone,” Philips says, and while that includes low- income residents, “we really encourage everyone to shop with us, because it’s all supporting our work and what we do.”

PHOTO CREDIT: York Fresh Food Farms

Want to get involved?

Monetary contributions are always welcome, and will support continuing expansion of the mobile produce market, and growing more food to meet increasing need for fresh produce. The opportunities to get your hands dirty are also plentiful.

“In addition to financial donations, we’re always looking for volunteers,” Phillips says. Individuals and groups can spend time helping on the farm, and individuals who make it a regular weekly or bi-weekly commitment can take home a produce work share in exchange for their volunteer time.

To keep up-to-date on the work of the farm, follow Y3F on Facebook and Instagram or visit their website. Y3F is always looking for volunteers and anyone interested can sign up.

YORK FRESH FOOD FARMS | yorkfreshfoodfarms.org | Facebook/Instagram @YorkFreshFoodFarms