Planning Equitable Food Systems
Samina Raja explores the nuanced process of food systems planning, emphasizing its values-driven nature over a strict set of steps. She highlights the crucial initial question: Who benefits from the plan and why? Raja argues that excluding voices leads to inequitable outcomes, underscoring the importance of inclusive, community-led approaches.
Discussing concepts like food sovereignty and justice, Raja connects their global relevance, advocating for fair outcomes tailored to local needs. She describes food systems planning as iterative and community-driven, citing examples from Buffalo and Madison where local initiatives reshaped food landscapes with farmer and consumer input.
Addressing private sector involvement, Raja notes their active role in US plans but highlights the need for better coordination in the global South. She stresses the importance of local government support in fostering collaborative food system initiatives.
In conclusion, Raja urges for a holistic approach that prioritizes community voices and local resources, aiming to create sustainable, equitable food systems worldwide.
Speaker Biography
Samina Raja is a professor of urban and regional planning, and the founder and director of the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab (UB Food Lab) at the University at Buffalo, the State University of New York. Trained in civil engineering and urban planning, Dr. Raja’s work focuses on community-led planning and policy to create equitable, sustainable, and healthy food systems. She currently co-leads Growing Food Policy from the Ground Up, an action-research project to build the capacity of growers of color to shape urban agriculture policy (in Buffalo, NY and Minneapolis, MN, US). Her national-scale project Growing Food Connections connects food insecure consumers with growers through local government policy, and hosts a comprehensive database of local government food policies.
Outside of the US, her work highlights how smallholder urban farmers in the Global South promote food sovereignty, particularly in cities experiencing protracted crises (such as in Srinagar, Kashmir). Dr. Raja is a widely published scholar who has produced more than 100 pieces of academic and non-academic writing. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published her (and co-authors’) monograph on the role of local government planning in strengthening food systems in low- and middle-income countries (2021). Her latest book Planning for Equitable Urban Agriculture: A New Ethic in City Building (2024) was published by Springer Press. Dr. Raja is the recipient of numerous awards including for her mentorship (2020 Distinguished Post Doc Mentor), community-engaged work (2016 Excellence in Community-University Engagement), and scholarship (2014 Dale Scholar).
