Crossroads Community Farm Challenges Food Deserts

Farmers—especially those involved in small-scale organic agriculture—farm because they want to feed the world good food. This is what deeply motivates me as a farmhand: working to make a difference in a broken food system. But food grown by small organic farms comes at a higher price than many people can afford. For farmers concerned with social justice, this is a tragic and difficult reality. So what can we do to challenge the institutional structures that dictate “good” food is only for the wealthy—that healthy, healing food is a rich person's hobby?

Cassie Noltnerwyss, of Crossroads Community Farm in Cross Plains, began searching for ways to help. “I decided this last winter that I wanted to offer myself, my farm, and the possible collective resources of our membership to a community that exists in a food desert,” she explains There are several such food deserts in Madison—a dark irony in a city nestled in such rich agricultural land.

Recognizing this need, Noltnerwyss connected with Second Harvest, an organization that coordinates food donations from farms in the Madison area. She was introduced to Tutankhamun “Coach” Assad, a community leader in the Meadowood neighborhood of southwest Madison. After a brief discussion, the two agreed on a plan: Crossroads would produce 45 weekly Community Supported Agriculture shares, and the Mellowhood Foundation, of which Assad is executive director, would distribute them throughout the Meadowood community.

That was the easy part. Now Noltnerwyss had to find the money to fund the effort. Fairshare CSA Coalition committed to funding half of the project. To fund the other half, Noltnerwyss organized a GoFundMe campaign. “I was not prepared for what happened next,” she said. “In less than 24 hours we raised the rest of the money we needed—just shy of $10,000.” In total, her more than 800 CSA members put up over $20,000 to help. With all the extra cash, Noltnerwyss says they will increase support to the Mellowhood Foundation and contribute to Neighbors Helping Neighbors, an organization that provides food, clothing and relief services to those in need in the Mt. Horeb area.

Contradictions in Madison’s progressive bubble have come into sharp focus during the Black Lives Matter protests. Food insecurity is one of these glaring injustices, and the Madison community as a whole has serious work to do to create a place where all are provided and cared for. Noltnerwyss hopes the Meadowood project is a start. “Everyone deserves high-quality, healthy food,” she says. “This (seems) like a tiny, concrete step in that direction.”