In photo L to R: Kae Vargas, CFT’s Farmland Access Coordinator; Rakim Grant, Development and Communications intern; and, Sherill Baldwin, CFT donor.
By Rakim Grant
Editor’s Note: Rakim Grant, a first year UConn Master’s in Public Policy intern for Connecticut Farmland Trust, is working to reach more people throughout Connecticut about our work. Rakim reflects below on why protecting farmland, and increasing access to farmland, is important to him.
My passion for protecting farmland stems from my personal experience and background in advocacy, which has shaped my commitment to ensuring that communities thrive through access to vital resources like farmland.
During my undergraduate years, I was deeply involved in student organizing. Attending a public university that was severely underfunded, I witnessed firsthand the struggles many students faced. Many of my peers were juggling full-time jobs just to afford their tuition, and some were even forced to live out of their cars due to the overwhelming financial pressures of balancing education, family obligations, and living expenses.
These experiences motivated me to take action. I became involved in connecting students with resources that were often difficult to access and worked to unite our campus to advocate for better funding from the state legislature. As we got together forming teams, holding meetings, and ultimately putting our network into action we realized that coming together to be heard as a collective made us hard to ignore and resulted in real progress.
I’m excited to apply the lessons I learned in student advocacy and organizing to my work with the Connecticut Farmland Trust. Much like my experience in advocating for students, I believe that farmers, too, deserve better access to the support and resources they need to thrive. Protecting and preserving farmland is one of the most critical ways to ensure that local communities can continue to have access to fresh, nutritious food.
Farming holds special importance for me because I’ve seen its direct impact on health and well-being within my own family. My grandmother, for example, has been fortunate enough to grow and harvest her own food on a small plot of land for decades. At 70 years old, she is one of the healthiest people I know—healthier, in fact, than many people my own age of 22. Witnessing her vitality has shown me the powerful role that access to locally sourced, nutritious food can have on one’s quality of life. I can’t help but imagine how transformative it would be if more communities had easier access to fresh food grown locally.
What excites me most about working to preserve and expand access to farmland in Connecticut is the broad-reaching impact it has. Farmland preservation benefits everyone—from the farmers themselves to the people who can lead healthier, more nourished lives because of the food they grow.
As we got together . . . we realized that coming together to be heard as a collective made us hard to ignore and resulted in real progress. – Rakim Grant
I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this important cause, and it’s all thanks to your support of CFT. I look forward to learning more about your story and hearing what inspired you to get involved in this vital work.