June 2026 Issue 1 | Connecting the Dots
Food insecurity is rising here in Connecticut and nationwide, driven largely by the simultaneous high cost of living, including skyrocketing food prices, and unprecedented cuts to SNAP, the nation’s largest and most effective first line of defense against hunger. Key findings in the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity and Opportunity (CWCSEO) State of Food Insecurity in Connecticut 2025 Report paint a concerning picture:
- Connecticut has now passed Maine to become the most food-insecure state in New England;
- Federal food security funding has been decreasing since 2022, and was cut by $110 million in 2026;
- School meals access in CT decreased for the third year in a row; and
- Food prices rose 3% in 2025, after already rising 23.6% from 2020 to 2024.
Foodshed believes in the power of shifting the false narratives that perpetuate harm to foster change. To realize that change, it is important to understand how these dots connect to the bigger picture.
When viewing food insecurity through the lens of systems change, the root causes run much deeper, and the solutions become more complex. Take, for instance, corporate consolidation: a mere handful of food brands make decisions and reap benefits at the expense of underpaid labor, environmental degradation, and the loss of relationship-based local economies, particularly in rural areas. Consider also the massive subsidies granted to commodity growers rather than to small and medium-sized diversified farms – the very farms that feed their communities and are critical to regionalization.
Although the cause of the rise in food insecurity today can be traced to present-day policy decisions within the industrial food system, as well as a lack of investment in living wages and access to affordable housing, healthcare, and childcare, it is imperative to understand the historical context. The story of food security is rooted in generational poverty resulting primarily from Black land loss over the last century. Director of the Springfield Food Policy Council, Liz Wills-O’Gilvie, puts it simply: “In order to talk about food, you have to talk about land, and in order to talk about land, you have to talk about race.”
Black farmers owned 16 million acres of land in 1910, but as of 2017, they owned just 2.9 million acres. This staggering loss of land stems from racial violence, heirs’ property, discrimination at federal agencies, and many other complex causes. And farmers of color continue to face systemic barriers to accessing land, capital, and vital resources that foster generational wealth.
Connecticut has a tightly-knit community of BIPOC farmers and food justice advocates working together to feed their communities, educate the next generation on how to grow food, and invest in their local economy through entrepreneurship. Vetiveah Immanuel, Founder and Owner of Radiance Gardens, is liberating her community through faith, farming, and food justice. She is a food sovereignty educator, regenerative agriculture nutritionist, speaker, minister, and community leader dedicated to helping communities reclaim power through food. InFood Justice and Sovereignty in our Communities, Food & Culture, Vetiveah provides both a deeper dive into food justice and sovereignty as well as approachable actions you can take to support a Black farmers and entrepreneurs.
Learn more about Vetiveah Immanuel: see here.
Learn from Vetiveah on how to support Black farmers: see here.
Another great resource to check out: Black Land Loss in the United States by Food Print.
