At Briogeo, we’re deeply committed to a safe and healthy future for all. It's that dedication that drives our sustainability efforts and our inclusivity efforts. These core brand values lend themselves well to a philanthropic strategy focused on conserving nature through inclusivity and a climate justice framework.
To bring that philanthropic endeavor to life, Briogeo has chosen to partner with Soul Fire Farm to support their efforts to provide food to food-insecure homes, farming and land-restoration training to Black and Brown communities, and policy education for public decision-makers. Their sustainable approach to food and environmental justice aligns with the intersectional values that make up the Briogeo philanthropic pillars.
Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous community farm in New York state that works to uproot racism and bring back ancestral farming practices such as building topsoil, sequestering soil carbon, and increasing biodiversity. With over 80 acres they reach 50,000 people with their harvest, provide free fresh fruit and vegetable boxes to those in food deserts, and run educational training workshops and weeklong residential intensives for BIPOC farmers, urban youth, and city-dwellers to help reverse the dangerous decline of landowning farmers of color.
Our year-long partnership will consist of donations and participation that will benefit the organization in the following areas:
Carbon Sequestering: Our donations will help their team increase the organic matter in 18 garden beds aiding to capture carbon in the soil. The team uses cover crops, compost, mulch, perennial plantings, and no-till practices to sequester carbon in the soil. Our contribution at year-end will result in 60,000 pounds of carbon sequestered.
Solidarity Shares: This doorstep harvest delivery service provides farm-fresh food at no cost for low-income households in food deserts. Our funding will provide one delivery a week for 20 weeks (June- November) for 25 households.
Youth Food Justice Empowerment Program: This intensive youth training teaches farming and harvesting, cooking with whole fresh foods, leadership, business development, and food justice. Participants spend 1-5 days on the farm for intensive training and our financial giving sponsors 2 Youth Empowerment Seminars.
Community Farm Volunteer Day will allow our employees to connect not only with the Soul Fire Team but also with the land, allowing for more connectivity on the mission and work we are doing.
