NY FOODWAYS GATHERINGS

In the fall of 2023, three projects (Rock Steady Farm, Brooklyn Packers, Tierra Viva Collective and Food For The Spirit), in collaboration with Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust, pooled a small amount of funding to plan and host two gatherings annually. Now, the organizing committee (Gaby, Maggie, Rebekah and Steph and D) organize these gathering spaces to support resource sharing, communication, and collaboration to build and organize the vast NY food/farming ecosystem we are all in. We have had 4 gatherings to date, totaling close to 300 participants!

We craft a unique day-long (or in some locations two-day) gathering where participants can weave opportunities to better support current food projects among each other, and QTBIPOC farmers specifically. The NY Foodway Gatherings are cross sectoral spaces for sparks - ideas, collaboration, networking, transparency, cooperative development training opportunities, celebration, momentum, inspiration, and long-term strategizing for more collectivization and coordination of our work.

Leaders from Rock Steady Farm, Tierra Viva Collective, Brooklyn Packers and Food For The Spirit specifically have the roles to help hold the container - curate each gathering, host and co-host, organize intensional skill shares based on participants needs and facilitate day of. We are not decision makers - each project that comes to these gatherings is separate from us, and we act as the organizers of the space.

Because we have witness transformative change in the regional food system and numerous systemic barriers addressed that QTBIPOC farmers face, as a direct result of these gatherings, in 2026 we aim to create a guide for hosting these types of events so that they can happen in many different areas in the future.

We have hosted gatherings in the Hudson Valley and Buffalo. We plan to host two gatherings in 2026, one in Poughkeepsie and one in North Country.

These gatherings are cross-sectoral, so people from all areas within the food supply chain who are trying to support QTBIPOC farmers in NY State are invited.  We loosely define farmers - but ultimately, a farmer are those who are trying to feed 25 or more families outside of their household and distributing food in a public way via CSA, wholesale, or markets. Policymakers, community organizers, and non-profit workers directly involved with cooperatives and big-picture system work are welcome. Distributors, food hub workers, purchasers, and sources are welcome to this space!

2025

This two-day event, held on March 22 & 23, 2025, marked the beginning of the Buffalo Bypass Network, a coordinated food systems effort in Buffalo, building on years of local food systems organizing and modeled after successful Bypass Network projects in Connecticut.

We partnered with NY Foodways Gathering organizers to convene everyone invested in strengthening food access and sovereignty in east Buffalo, a predominantly Black community where the Tops 5/14 shooting underscored the urgency of food justice and local resilience. QTBIPOC growers were especially encouraged to attend to build connections and map the intersections of our regional food systems, economies, and collective resilience. More broadly, we invited farmers, growers, food workers, food distributors, retailers, logistics experts, philanthropists, aligned organizations, and food justice advocates in strategizing and strengthening this network from both Buffalo and across the state.

The Buffalo Bypass Network aims to co-create food value chains that provide high-quality, local food from QTBIPOC growers to East Buffalo residents while ensuring fair wages and sustainability for producers and workers. During the event, we:

• Connected with QTBIPOC food justice folks across NY State 

• Contributed to food justice, equity, and regional value chain solutions

• Helped shape the Buffalo Bypass Network, a new effort in food access & worker dignity

• Discussed food apartheid, Black farming legacies, and systemic solutions

• Held activities around resource sharing, asset mapping & educational opportunities around cooperative development and collective ownership models

Day 1: NY FoodWays Gathering & Jesup Wagon Mapping Activity

• Introduction to the Buffalo Bypass Network, connecting QTBIPOC farmers & strengthening local food systems

• Activities: Identifying Needs & Gaps, Landscape Assessment, SWOT Analysis

Day 2:  Buffalo Food Justice Tour 

• Highlighting local community efforts in the fight for food justice.

Data & event partners included: Food for the Spirit, Red Tomato, African Heritage Food Co-op, Buffalo Go Green, Brooklyn Packers, Rock Steady Farm, UB Food Lab, Tierra Viva Collective

With support from: Growing Justice Fund, Wildseeds Fund, Western New York Foundation, USDA-RSFI NY 

Optional Pre-Readings:

• Growing Toward Equity: Equitable Urban Agriculture in Buffalo’s East Side

• Tops Shooting: What We Get Wrong About Food Insecurity in Buffalo

• Black Buffalo, Food Apartheid & Residential Segregation