Hunger for justice: building sustainable and equitable communities in Massachusetts.

Urban Farm DB summary

A chapter documenting how the food justice movement in the lower Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, USA, has challenged inequities in the agri-food system alongside broader socio-economic and racial disparities. It examines Holyoke-based Nuestras Raíces and Springfield-based Gardening the Community, two organizations using urban agriculture to alleviate food insecurity and improve food access while reimagining ecological and socio-spatial relationships in a region marked by decades of de-industrialization and neoliberal economic reform. Drawing on urban political ecology, it argues their assertion of a "right to the city" underlies attempts to dismantle institutional racism and socio-economic stratification embedded in both the current food system and the region.