Solidarity Farm with the National Young Farmers Coalition in Pauma Valley, California
Plant, irrigate, fertilize, harvest, repeat.
I visited Solidarity Farm in Pauma Valley, a 10 acre family farm, to create images for the National Young Farmers Coalition. The images will be featured in this year’s National Survey Report. I grew up watching my mother take care of her garden, but that is all I knew coming into this experience. Everyone at Solidarity Farm was so welcoming, hard working, passionate, and knowledgable. Questions were answered and even though they had an incredible amount of tasks to complete, they happily took a moment to smile for the camera.
The National Young Farmers Coalition advocates for “policies that recognize farming as a public service,” and that “resource connections to the land and foster our health in the face of climate crisis.” They also partner with “social justice movements for a future in which people, land, and relationships are respected.” Their mission is to “shift power and change policy to equitably resource our new generation of working farmers.” Currently, Young Farmer’s focus is the One Million Acres for the Future Campaign. They and their partners are “calling on Congress to invest $2.5 billion in the 2023 Farm Bill to facilitate equitable access to one million acres of land for the next generation of farmers.”
At the farm, I photographed the farmers hard at work, the plots of land, tools used, and even the farm animals! As a treat, I got to try a fresh cucumber and my first purple tomato. As a photographer, I am blessed to have so many new experiences and meet so many interesting people while doing what I love and getting paid for it. If that wasn’t enough, being able to partner with amazing organizations and businesses like these is the cherry on top. Somebody pinch me.
To learn more about the National Young Farmers Coalition and their vision, click here. If you are in need of your own lifestyle content, let’s chat about your own photo session!
