Chatham’s “Growing Growers” Builds Connections Between Diverse Farmers
Haley Moore MAFS ’23 was an intern for Chatham’s Growing Growers program this year.
Haley Moore ’23 was used to relying on the rain.
Moore, who is obtaining a Master of Arts in Food Studies, could usually count on the rain to water their crops in the past. Working in a greenhouse on Chatham University’s Eden Hall Campus was different.
“I used to have more of a culinary focus,” Moore said. “I never thought that I would have such an interest in actually growing food. I’ve been writing about agriculture since I got out of undergrad, but I never thought I’d be the one doing it.”
Moore, who is queer and uses both “they” and “she” pronouns, was getting used to doing their own farming as an intern in Chatham’s Growing Growers project.
The program creates connections and relationships between groups – Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ people, as well as women – who are underrepresented in farming in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
According to the last Census of Agriculture taken in 2017, 99% of farmers in Pennsylvania are white, and 65% of farmers are men.
It’s a partnership with the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, which offers grants and education for farmers.
According to Dr. Christopher Murakami, an assistant professor of agroecology who’s also the program manager of Growing Growers, the project’s goal is to increase the visibility of and connectivity between women, Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ farmers or aspiring farmers.
Moore was a self-taught baker since childhood, and she also took cooking classes with Sally Frey, an assistant professor of food studies at Chatham.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here at Chatham,” Moore said. “I would say the master’s program is all about what you put into it and what you make it. There is something for everyone, but you have to actively engage and pursue what you like to do.
“It’s opened my eyes to so many different avenues of food,” Moore continued. “I think we get stuck thinking that food is just Instagramming your dinner or just magazines or just the Food Network or just farming, and food is all of those things. It’s a food system, and I think the master’s program here does a good job of showing you that.”
Moore said they pay more attention to food security and food policy since beginning the master’s program, but they also said they enjoyed the simple pleasure of eating the fresh food available on campus.
“For me, my biggest change is really understanding now how complicated our food system is and how hard it is to define sustainable eating,” Moore said. “Learning the food system of the United States is not something you learn in history.”
Liz Metzler MFAS ’21 is the director of farm operations and land management at Hilltop Urban Farms.
At Hilltop Urban Farm in Pittsburgh’s Mount Oliver neighborhood, the program has helped create partnerships that otherwise wouldn’t have happened, Liz Metzler MAFS ’21 said.
“I think the Growing Growers program is a really awesome program for everyone involved,” said Metzler, who is now the director of farm operations and land management at Hilltop Urban Farms. “The ‘grower’ gets paid and the educator gets paid.”
Since Hilltop is a nonprofit farm, money from Growing Growers goes right back into their incubator program, which allows farmers and aspiring farmers to grow crops on a small plot of land on the Mount Oliver property.
One of the farmers in that incubator program is Rafael Vencio, who has had a quarter acre of land at Hilltop Urban Farm for three years.
Coming from the Philippines, Vencio said he wants his work with Growing Growers to show the importance of not only increasing the visibility of underrepresented farmers, but also to prove that those farmers will be able to make a living off of the land.
“I’m trying to prove that is achievable,” Vencio said. “All this work and studying that we do should amount to successes that are visible.”
For Moore, the Eden Hall Campus is a special place to learn more about farming alongside diverse students who are from other countries or backgrounds.
“Connecting over conversations with each other about our favorite things to grow or butterflies we like to see— it’s been super fun to get to know people,” Moore said.
Want to grow your own food knowledge? Learn more about a Master in Food Studies and a MAFS + MBA dual degree. There is also a major and minor for undergraduates interested in Food Studies, and an integrated undergraduate and master’s degree program.
Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA, and he has a BA in Broadcast Production and Media Management from Point Park University. Mick, a native of western Pennsylvania, spends his free time watching movies and playing music.