What type of work do you do with food systems in general?
On a typical day, Chiquita McCullough spends her time working as the Farm Share Site Coordinator of the Riverside Church distribution site. However, McCullough’s commitment to New York City (NYC) food systems goes far beyond the distribution of Corbin Hill farm shares. McCullough has dedicated her life to strengthening her community’s knowledge and access to nutritious and sustainable produce. Beginning in the 1970’s, McCullough founded the Amistad Food Buying Club based on the principles of Kwanzaa and collective economics. Located in the Bronx near White Plains and Gun Hill Road, friends and family from her neighborhood would gather to communally select and purchase locally sourced foods from Hunts Point, Bronx. In return, each family received a share of all the vegetables purchased. This collective served as a platform to not only buy locally sourced foods, but to also educate families about the process of eating, purchasing, and living sustainability.
It’s important to reflect on the previous forms of community-based food systems that existed in NYC in order to acknowledge the food distribution models that inform the way in which food hubs such as Corbin Hill operate today. Similar to the values of Corbin Hill, the Amistad Food Buying Club prioritized the distribution of fruits and vegetables grown in season. During this interview, McCullough emphasized that buying seasonal foods saves money based on the abundance of that crop and the reduced transportation costs. Additionally, the overall quality of the food is better, since seasonal foods are sold closer to its harvest time.
What type of work do you do with Corbin Hill? How has your involvement with Corbin Hill changed as a result of COVID-19?
During McCullough’s time at Corbin Hill, she has managed four different sites ranging in location from the Bronx to Upper Manhattan. McCullough even took on an ambassadorial role for Corbin Hill by spreading its message to people in her community. For McCullough, the food buying collectives and farm share programs she participated in transcended the sole distribution of fresh foods. She values the sense of community developed at the sites and the way in which farm share members took on familial roles in her life. Through weekly conversations, friendship building, and knowledge exchange at the distribution sites, McCullough carries on the values of the food buying collective she founded over fifty years ago. McCullough continues to empower people to understand their own buying power and to explore the health and economic benefits of eating seasonal foods through her work with Corbin Hill. In her opinion,“Corbin Hill is about community and its ability to bridge access to good food for the body and spirit”
What is it like to be older during the pandemic?
When thinking about the effects of COVID-19 on older generations including McCullough, the implementation of social distancing has reshaped the way these groups interact with their community. It especially hinders people around McCullough’s age from engaging in the networks created around the principles of collective economics. McCullough even expressed deep sadness based on her inability to work at the Riverside Church distribution site, since the beginning of the pandemic. McCullough looks forward to the time in which she can work with Corbin Hill again to regain her sense of purpose in life.
How has your community been impacted by COVID-19? In your opinion, how has the pandemic affected your local food systems?
The prevalence of food insecurity and food deserts has devastated communities in NYC for decades. The Food Bank of NYC’s latest study deemed 14.4% of NYC residents to be food insecure as of 2018. Yet, the impacts of COVID-19 continue to place food insecure residents at risk. For instance, McCullough qualifies her neighborhood as a food desert, since the food stores available lack variety and fail to provide nutritious options that meet her dietary needs. Despite the prevalence of corner stores, bodegas and restaurants, the food offered in these stores fail to reflect the resident’s preferred cuisines. Living in a food desert during the pandemic thus poses an additional barrier to safely access quality foods. Although McCullough has access to a car, many people in her neighborhood are forced to rely on public transportation which places them at risk due to the spread of the coronavirus. Unfortunately, McCullough’s neighborhood, “used to have a farmers market but the community is not open to the concept of a farmers market as much as they should be.”
Are there any positive things coming out of the pandemic for you?
The effects of COVID-19 on food supply chains in NYC pushed McCullough to think critically about the way in which small farms can adjust their operations to reach more consumers and to increase sales. After the pandemic began, McCullough initially reached out to a NYC dairy farm to inquire about which flavors of their products would be available for purchase. During her search, she found that a number of the small food distributors are reinventing themselves by engaging in direct distribution to consumers. After McCullough reviewed various articles, it became clear to her that direct to consumer sales for small farms is an untapped market. Now, small-scale farms are offering delivery services therefore increasing their sales and making their products more accessible. While there are many devastating realities related to the pandemic, there is fortunately space for small-scale farmers to reimagine past food distribution models. In the future, McCullough would love to see more farmers markets throughout NYC so that smaller farmers have additional platforms to share their produce with residents in need of fresh, local foods.
How do you think the pandemic will impact the future of Corbin Hill?
As many shareholders know by now, Corbin Hill has now stepped into the realm of providing its shareholders with supplemental food items needed to sustain different diets. Corbin Hill’s adaptive model now allows people to get more food in one place which reduces travel time and exposure to the virus. McCullough noted that she can see this model expanding even more in the future. McCullough believes that people’s increased awareness of the pandemic’s effect on food systems has made shareholders more appreciative of the good work that Corbin Hill is doing. With this new model, Corbin Hill can reach more people. Overall, McCullough has well wishes for the Corbin Hill community at large and all of the people who work diligently in the background to keep Corbin Hill relevant. From her perspective, the mission of Corbin Hill and its dedication to food justice and collective economics will always be pertinent since, “health is wealth”
Sources
Food Bank for NYC. (2018). Unboxing the Reality of Hunger: Hidden Need, Threats & Resources of NYC’s Emergency Food Network. Retrieved June 18, 2020, from https://1giqgs400j4830k22r3m4wqg-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Unboxing-Hunger-FBNYC-2-2018.pdf
Storm Lewis