For the past five years, we've been actively involved in the NOFA NJ Winter Conference, often as speakers sharing our work. This year, however, we had the privilege of attending as fellow learners and community members.
The "Living Roots, Resilience, and Food Security" conference took place in Asbury Park, NJ, on Saturday, January 25th. Our dedicated Food Justice Co-coordinators, Kathia and Jose, along with three active garden members – Migdalia, Olivia, and Patty – represented our organization.
The day was filled with insightful workshops; though it was impossible to attend them all simultaneously, we were fortunate to participate in sessions on:
Update on current diseases affecting vegetable plants
Community Food Connection
Ag Producer cooperatives
Seed Farming at any scale and working with cultural seeds
Increasing Land Access Initiative
These workshops sparked new ideas and further refined our existing plans. We can't wait to share the exciting projects we're developing for this season with you all!
A Sense of Community
Reconnecting with fellow food justice activists and catching up with friends was a highlight. We were particularly impressed by the strong South Jersey representation, a significant shift from our initial conference experiences.
Here are a few sentiments shared by our participants shortly after their return:
"I am grateful for participating in the event. I felt like I was with my family, and I will continue to bring my best as God permits me. Thanks for the time and interpretation so we could understand what was shared."
"The workshops were very interesting, and I learned something from each one of them. We want to participate in more spaces like this so we can continue to learn."
Despite the long day, our participants returned home energized and enriched. They brought back not only new knowledge and valuable connections but also a conference-acquired mascot, warmly named "NOFA."
We extend our sincere gratitude to NOFA for their sponsorship and to NJ Food Democracy Collaborative for providing interpretation equipment and ensuring that language was not a barrier for our community members.
Get Involved!
If you're interested in learning more about our upcoming projects or would like to join us at future conferences, we warmly invite you to engage in our food justice work. Please contact us at kramirez@cata-farmworkers.org or 856-875-5511. You can also find us through our social media channels.
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