Growing Hope Globally and Partnering for a Hunger-Free Future

U.S. agriculture and global food security have built a crucial relationship in American efforts to end hunger and malnutrition around the world. Not only is this relationship essential for critical programs, but it reflects the genuine values and determination of farmers themselves to provide enough food for everyone. This is no more clear than through the work of Growing Hope Globally, which mobilizes farmers and rural communities to partner with and contribute to a worldwide movement of agricultural development and food security. Host Minerva Delgado speaks to Kaitlyn Slate, President and CEO of Growing Hope Globally, about the value of cultivating these cross-border relationships in the agriculture community, and lessons that can be learned for the broader anti-hunger movement.

Host: Minerva Delgado, Alliance to End Hunger

Guest: Kaitlyn Slate, President & CEO, Growing Hope Globally

Learn more about Growing Hope Globally, their impact, success stories, and how to get involved at https://www.growinghopeglobally.org

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Hello and welcome to another episode of Voices to End Hunger. I'm Minerva Delgado. U.S. agriculture plays an essential role in American efforts to end hunger and malnutrition around the world. It reflects the genuine values and determinations of farmers themselves to provide enough food for everyone. This is no more clear than through the work of Growing Hope Globally, which mobilizes farmers and rural communities to partner with and contribute to a worldwide movement of agricultural development and food security. Today I speak with Caitlin Slate, president and CEO of Growing Hope Globally, about the value of cultivating these cross-border relationships in the agricultural community and lessons that can be learned for the broader anti-hunger movement. Caitlin, welcome to the Voices to End Hunger Podcast.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Thank you for having me. Glad to be here.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

It's my pleasure. We know you've been leading Growing Hope Globally for what is soon to be two years. What led you to where you are today? Have you always been involved with agriculture and farming?

SPEAKER_01 1:15

So I personally have not always been involved with agriculture and farming. Both of my parents grew up on farms, one in rural Minnesota, the other in southern Alberta. And so farming has always been a key part of my understanding of life and where my parents came from. I spent summers on the farm with my grandparents, especially in southern Alberta. I have lots of memories, especially in the fall, riding the combine with the workers during harvest. Farming is one of those things that it's both a career and a lifestyle. And so I got to this position by way of international development and focusing on international agriculture and food security programming globally. But when this opportunity was presented, I just was excited about it and saw the connection between my roots as a child of farmers or one-time farmers and also my passion for international development.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Wonderful. And this is a perfect combination of those two passions. So uh certainly appreciate your taking the leadership there, growing hope globally. Um, let's talk a little bit about the organization. Your group links the U.S. farmer and rural communities to global agriculture and community development needs. That's a pretty unique approach. What's the history there?

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Yeah, so we were started by farmers. That's that's sort of core to who we are. About 26 years ago, just over 26 years ago, there were farmers in Ohio. And it was a time when they had a bumper crop of high lysine corn. And they had heard of others collecting corn with their neighbors to ship overseas to respond to a food crisis or famine that was happening in the Horn of Africa, so East Africa. And they wanted to do something, and they felt that as farmers, they were uniquely positioned to be able to respond to the immediate needs. So they collected, they used their corn, connected with their neighbors, and collectively they filled a shipping container and shipped it overseas. I think it first went down to Texas, and then from there it went. But they realized pretty soon after that that first they weren't sure that the corn actually made it. And the cost to ship the corn was more expensive than the value of the corn itself. And then another potential issue that they hadn't thought about when they initially came up with the idea was that by bringing food in from North America, they were impacting the local economy. So any farmer that had grain to sell that had been produced close by the crisis they were trying to respond to no longer had a market. And so they realized that they still wanted to do something. They had a desire to do something as farmers for global food security, but gathered together a group of international development organizations and other farmers and asked the question: how can we respond to these needs in a way that provides lasting solutions to hunger and is also using the unique gifts that we have to bring? So they came up with this model of growing crops in the US and with those proceeds funding agricultural development programs globally. And the model is unique in the sense of a farmer has a unique gift to give, and that's land. He or she may have a neighbor that wants to pitch in and provide the labor to plant the seeds. A seed company may donate the seeds, a fertilizer company may donate the fertilizer. And all of these things together multiply the value of what was first land, then a seed, and grows into a great harvest. And so they sought ways to multiply the impact through community projects locally called growing projects to then fund programs globally through trusted international development organizations to see maximum impact. And so today we have growing projects across the United States, and we work with 13 international development organizations delivering the programs globally, and we truly are an organization that understands the value that together we can accomplish more. We're better together.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

I love that. I understand Growing Hope Globally works mostly with smallholder farmers around the world. For the information of our audience, smallholder farming households comprise up to about 2 billion people around the world, including 1.5 billion people in low-income countries. And they cultivate less than two hectares or roughly five acres of land and occupy about 12% of the world's agricultural land. Despite their critical role in food security, they represent a significant portion of the world's hungry and often live on less than $2 a day. You've talked a little bit about the Growing Hope Globally model. You build, as you described, your growing projects. Anything more you want to say about how the model works?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yeah, and so we, as you said, smallholder farmers are a key component to how we're addressing the challenge of food insecurity. When we look globally, the majority of the world's poor are in rural areas. The most sustainable and long-lasting way to help folks that are living in rural areas, like you said, often on an acre or less, is to help them produce more with what they already have. And so if we can help families grow more in a small area of land, that can set them up to be more food secure in the future. Oftentimes our programs are also integrated. So there may be other programming that is improving food security through agriculture. There could be a nutrition component. Oftentimes we're working with pregnant and nursing mothers because the nutrition of babies and children is so important for community development gains. But we start with agricultural development. So that is tools and training, access to improved seed, post-harvest storage. You know, our world actually produces enough food to feed the whole planet, but it's not fairly distributed. And also there's a huge challenge of post-harvest loss, especially in these rural communities globally. And so if we can help folks be able to keep more of what they harvest, that's also a huge component of food security and building out of extreme poverty.

SPEAKER_00 8:28

Thanks. What kind of impact have you and your partner, farmers and communities, been able to witness? What makes this impact unique for Growing Hope Globally?

SPEAKER_01 8:40

I think so we are a relational organization. And one of the key components of what we do is not just food security in the sense of funding programs, but helping people understand and see each other as humans across different divides. And so one of the neat things, I was just on a call with a farmer last week, and he was talking about how he had traveled to East Africa to visit one of our programs and had the opportunity to connect with a farmer there. And when he was talking to this farmer about the challenges that he was experiencing as a farmer, his top five challenges were the same top five challenges of this farmer in the US. And I think there's something really powerful about that level of solidarity that we are really focused on, that it's this person-to-person connection. We care about the overall impact, and we're excited to share that we've directly impacted 2.5 million people since we started in food security globally. But that's just one number that doesn't provide the full picture of the longer-lasting impact, the understanding of challenges that exist here and globally, but also understanding that we can do something. I think, too, there's been a really neat opportunity where we've visited programs years after they've ended and seeing the impact still going. And so that's that's one of the things that's important to us. We typically fund programs three to five years. And during that time, we're working with communities and families to help them with the tools they need to be successful. And our goal is that they'll be able to continue that success once we leave. And we've seen that. We've seen communities that are still practicing the strategies that they've been taught and experimenting with new things. They've had access to an agronomist, a nutritionist for that time period, but then together they've been able to continue. When I was recently in Senegal, I um visited a community of women that were collectively gardening in this community garden. And the program was about to end, but they had all of these ideas. And they said to me, there was one woman that came up to me before I left, and she said to me, Thank you. Thank you for what you've done. We know that together there's so much more we can do. And she wasn't talking about me with them or growing hope. She was talking about the community that she was part of and the dreams that they had. And I think that that's something that you can never take away from someone. You can't take their knowledge and once they have a vision and see the possibility of being able to do something, that's forever, that's long-lasting change.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Thank you. And I think that's what I like the most about the work that you all are doing, just the holistic approach, but also the empowerment and the long-term sustainability of these projects. And you're making real differences in people's lives. I I've read some of the success stories on your website, and they're very, very touching. Thank you for sharing that. Um you mentioned earlier that farmers uh across the globe face similar issues. I'm wondering if you could share what some of those top-tier issues are with our with our audience.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

Yeah, um, I would say the number one thing is weather, right? It's something we can't control, and every farmer will talk to you about how you need not too much rain, but not too little, and you need it at the right time. As you know, weather patterns are changing globally. And so, in some areas that we work, especially um in sub-Saharan Africa, that's made farming increasingly difficult because weather patterns are a bit more erratic. The dry season may last longer, and when the rainy season comes, there's too much rain. But farmers in the U.S. can also completely relate to that. This past year was a really difficult year for many farmers, especially in Illinois. Parts of really parts of every state where you see farming, weather patterns, you know, it's you either get the rain or you don't. Now, many farmers here have access to irrigation, but that doesn't solve the challenges. So I would say weather and then pests. If you have an infestation of something that eats your corn, that impacts harvests, and just access to markets. We saw this year as a very challenging year for U.S. farmers with markets being upset globally. That impacts smallholder farmers too, but it looks different. One of the powerful ways for smallholder farmers globally to be able to earn more is access to markets and market information. And so they're selling at a much smaller scale, but they understand the timing of sale and getting the most for what you harvest. But if you think about it, all these things are out of your control as a farmer. You can't control the weather, you can't control whether there's an infestation. And there's only so much that you can control with markets. If you have post-harvest storage, you can hold on to your grain and hope for better prices. But at the end of the day, you're gonna have to take the price that's offered at the time that you're gonna sell it. So, you know, they're all things that we may not think about, especially I think the idea of selling and markets, but farmers deal with that every day.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

In your relatively short time with Growing Hope Globally, what growth and opportunities have you seen through the growing projects as well as partnerships between US and global enterprises overall?

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I think one of the most encouraging aspects of growing projects and the US side of what we do is seeing communities come together to do something that they care about collectively. When maybe their political affiliations or their Christian beliefs are tied to different denominations. There are all these things that separate us. And I feel like in our world today, it's just it's amplified, right? There's very little that connects us and more that divides us. But one of my favorite parts of this position is being in a room with people sitting around a table that come from very different backgrounds, but are all passionate about the same thing and want to do something together. And so we have growing projects across the US, and some of them are with different denominations and different farmers that typically there's one growing project I think about in particular in Michigan, actually, where there's about a dozen farmers that come together and they talk about how, in any other situation in their life as farmers, if there was land available, they would be fighting over it. They would all be trying to scoop up that land because the more land you have, the more productive you can be. But it's not that way with their growing project. They're finding creative ways to farm marginal pieces of land. In fact, one of the committee members of this growing project saw an opportunity when a Meyer store came to town, but had a plot of land that was larger than the store needed. And they went to Meyer and said, Are you using this land? Do you have plans for this land? If not, we'd love to be able to farm this land for a period of time while you guys aren't using it. And Meyer agreed to let them farm the land. So they have several acres around a Meyer store. So they've put some money into it to make it more productive agricultural land. And then they plant every year and harvest. And all of these farmers come together based on who's available. Harvest is a very, very busy time for any farmer. It's sunup to sundown, but they make time to also harvest the crops that they know are funding this project. And the joy that they get from it and the partnerships that they have has just multiplied not only the gift, but the sense of community that they have. And it's churches that are different denominations, like I said, all coming together and doing this, and they're energized by it and encouraged by it. So that's been that's been really neat to see.

SPEAKER_00 17:55

Wonderful. Thank you. We're currently in an environment in which dedicated government funding for global development is declining, not just in the US, but in many quote unquote donor countries. Uh, for those of us interested in sustaining support for global community development, what can we learn from your private focus model?

SPEAKER_01 18:18

I think it's important to remember that we all have the ability to do something. And that's sort of key to what we do at Growing Hope. The challenges are overwhelming. The scale of global food insecurity is overwhelming. And like you said, governments instead of stepping up are stepping back. But that just doesn't mean that it's hopeless. In fact, it's a time to take a step back and recognize that if we each did one thing, the impact of that is huge. And we've seen that with growing projects. I was just in Maryland with a group of folks that started a growing project about 20 years ago. And they had read a book and felt really overwhelmed about the scale of food insecurity globally. And they said to themselves, there's no way we can make a difference. There's no way, but why don't we try? And they tried. And 20 years later, they've raised over half a million dollars to support food security initiatives globally. A small group of people dedicated to it for 20 years, and the scale of that is nothing small. It's huge. And I think that that's a lesson that we can all take. That it starts with doing one thing. And if we each did one thing, the scale of that is beyond what even the governments are able to do through bilateral funding. It reminds me of a conversation I had with my daughter, my youngest daughter, a couple of years ago. We were talking about garbage. And she was expressing how frustrated she was with how much trash was on the playground. And so she was working during recess picking up trash, and she said, she stopped and she thought, if all of us just picked up one piece of trash, there would be no trash. And it's as simple as that, right? We all have the power to do something. Whether that be small or large, we're at different places, but we each do have the power. And I just encourage everyone to think about what they can do, what resources they have to give what they have, where they're at, to what matters to them.

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Thank you. You know, the Alliance on Hunger is an advocacy-focused organization. So let's turn to advocacy. Many of our listeners would be interested in hearing what advice you have for successful advocacy. You have a very different but also very effective constituency from what we typically see uh on Capitol Hill for food security. Um, how can we better partner with U.S. farmers for global development efforts?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

I think U.S. farmers have a really unique voice to add to the conversation. Because as I mentioned in this idea of farmers helping farmers, there's a level of understanding that they have of their global farming neighbors. Um, there's a lot of uncertainty when it comes to farmers, and you rely on a lot of things that are out of your control. And I would say we've had great success of being able to have a conversation centered around this idea of global food insecurity and that it matters to all of us. That unless people are able to eat, there's not a whole lot else that they can do as far as building their community. When you spend your whole day worrying how you're gonna feed your family. And finding the resources to do that. There's not much left to think about the future. And I think that farmers understand that piece of the hard work, but also the fact that there's different situations in life that we're given that we shouldn't take for granted. And we've had a lot of success working with U.S. farmers to not focus on what side of the aisle someone's on, but that because we care about food and the work that it takes to grow the food and the unique value of farmers here and globally, that the conversation can simply center on why it matters. And it matters for us as a society that sees itself as a leader in global progress. But also for us, we are a Christian organization. So our faith speaks into that. We care about these issues because we are compelled by God to love our neighbor. And we think about our neighbor as one that's geographically close but also far. And I think that when we can focus on stories and share those stories, and farmers can share stories in ways that others in society may not be able to, that's when effective advocacy comes in. It's the stories and the personal connection and seeing things. And so I think that that's where it's been successful for us and knowing that it's something that we can all get on board with, that we care about. And that's that everyone everywhere has enough to eat.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Thank you. How can our listeners get involved with Growing Hope Globally?

SPEAKER_01 23:50

Yeah, I would encourage folks to visit our website, www.growinghopeglobally.org. And also if you're interested in doing something, talk to your neighbors, talk to your school, your church. We believe in the power of doing more together. And this idea of doing what you can with what you have and where you're at, but then multiplying that with the power and numbers. And so if you're interested in learning more or participating in a growing project, reach out to us. There's no limit to what folks can do. And so we work a lot through churches, FFA groups, um, at schools, and also just communities. We also see a real value in if you live in an urban area, we have some urban-rural partnerships where urban communities are supporting some of the input cost for farming of rural communities, again, to multiply the harvests and the donations that are able to be gathered from a crop. If you'd like to try virtual farming, Growing Hope Globally owns 17 acres of land in Iowa, and we are offering the opportunity for folks to sponsor an acre, and you can watch as we plant soybeans this year, watch them grow, and then harvest them. And we plan to provide updates along the way. You may see my colleague Mark Swanson on social media sharing updates from the field. And it's just a way to get involved and maybe get a little taste of what it's like to be a farmer and all of the things that are out of your control, but the anticipation that you have when you plant something and it wait for it to grow. Um, so I would invite and encourage people to check that out.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

I love that. Being someone who lives in an urban environment, uh, I don't really have any place to plant uh except for maybe window boxes. Um yeah, I love that idea and the fact that anyone can get engaged, whether or not they have access to farmland. Uh thank you for that. Caitlin, as we wrap up, what key message would you like our listeners to leave with today?

SPEAKER_01 26:16

The power that each of us has. And whether that be through a growing project, um, raising crops, donating to support food securities globally, or simply speaking up and sharing your voice with your elected officials. We all have the power to do something. And so I encourage each person to think about what matters to them and to do something about it. And if you want help or guidance, we're all here to help you. You know, we're in this fight together, but it takes each of us to do something, big or small, and that's okay. There's no task or activity that's too small. It all matters. So that's what I would encourage people to remember and think about.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Caitlin, thank you for joining us today on the Voices Sand Hunger podcast.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Thank you so much for having me. It's been a real pleasure.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

That was Caitlin Slate of Growing Hope Globally. You can learn more about the organization, its impact, success stories, and how to get involved by visiting Growing Hope Globally.org with the links in our show notes. You can email us about our program at podcast at alliance toendhunger.org. Today's episode was produced and edited by Nate McGrath. I'm Minerva Delgado. See you next time.