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Equity

In the context of this resource guide, equity refers to racial, social, environmental and systemic equity. Equity is not just the absence of discrimination but also the presence of values and systems that ensure fairness and justice. It is both a mindset and a state of being and doing.  

Racism and inequity are experienced at many levels and are symptoms of the deeper root causes found within broader systems.  Although it may seem insurmountable to address all of the layers of historical inequities, we can make progress by working actively to recognize them - in ourselves and the systems we take part in, speaking of them, and changing the narrative fundamentally every day. Equity is not only about redistribution of resources; it is also about acknowledgement of past and present oppressive systems and active collaboration.  

‍In the case of regenerative agriculture, there is usually little to no acknowledgement of the centuries of innovative and empirical, field-tested cultural and traditional ecological practices that continue to be fundamentally regenerative.  This lack of acknowledgement is the first barrier to addressing inequitable perspectives, which also leads to a lack of collaboration with BIPOC farmers, many of whom are knowledge holders of regenerative agricultural practices and should be at the forefront of this movement.

Lack of acknowledgement perpetuates access issues. Speaking up, changing the narrative, diversifying voices, and decentralizing our own perspective  are tools to mitigate inequity. 

As a shared goal, equity is an every moment endeavor and affects everyone; every moment is an opportunity to shift into equitable behavior. We can utilize various tools and reminders to equalize historically erroneous perspectives and create processes that are based on harm reduction. Engaging in a systems analysis can help identify deeper causes and generate options for solutions.

A systems lens in this context is a perceptual framework that looks at inequities through past and present social structures and the perspectives that built them.  

Racial Equity Tools, defines racial equity as

  • ‘The condition that would be achieved if one’s racial identity no longer predicted, in a statistical sense, how one fares’… in one’s economic, social and physical  health and wellbeing. 
  • One part of racial justice, and thus we also include work to address root causes of inequities, not just their manifestations. This includes the elimination of policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differential outcomes by race or fail to work actively to eliminate them. 

Racial Equity is a mindset and method for solving problems, forms of oppression and injustices the impacts of which have endured for generations, seem intractable, harm people and communities of color most acutely, and ultimately affect people of all races. 

Addressing Racial inequity requires seeing differently, thinking differently, and doing the work differently. Working for racial equity involves  setting up processes and practices that get results that make a difference and last. This often requires constant stopping, re-assessing, re-adjusting and perpetuating clearer processes as we sift through deeply embedded pathways of inequitable perspectives and systems.

Social equity is impartiality, fairness and justice for all people in social policy. Social equity takes into account systemic inequalities to ensure everyone in a community has access to the same opportunities and outcomes. For example, social equity includes not just equitable access to programs and services but the unhindered ability to engage in the political process. It also means equitable educational and economic opportunities.

Systemic equity is fair treatment of all resulting in fair opportunities and outcomes for everyone; systemic equity is required to supplant the racism and inequities that underpin and shape our current systems.

Equity in practice requires awareness of the perspective we personally, and our organizations, companies and institutions operate from and ultimately, a change in perspective and operational lens. Perspective determines how we understand the world around us and leads to the decisions that can either perpetuate inequitable processes or interrupt them.

Agricultural Context

Agriculture in North America correlates with a system of racist exploitation: the theft of enslaved and indentured labor and the theft of Indigenous land, removal of diversity (both human and ecological), and historically limiting access to BIPOC farmers.

Access is about who has the tools and resources to access land, subsidies, funding and support. It is common that those who create the rules and processes, have created them from what they know; language, demographic, exclusive or specific academic experience, etc. Consequently, these tools are only available to a select few. Often policies are built around supporting those who fit certain metrics, such as access to or ownership of large tracts of land, and a track record that aligns with the policies created for a certain demographic. Many structures aimed at supporting regenerative practices or even the ecosystem services global market are often unreachable to those who have been historically excluded from land ownership and access. The process continues to be difficult but many are working to mitigate accessibility issues, and supporting this work within its diversity of approaches is key in mitigating inequity. The lack of collaboration and sharing of diverse experiences not only excludes others from participation which would support their livelihoods, but also decreases the resilience and persistence of the existing diverse knowledge that is needed in the creation of new models.

In Practice

If the issue is inaccessible processes written for and by those who understand them, who have had access to education due to minimal duress, one solution is the shifting of grant officers/extension officers roles to become more about reaching out. There are already many who are actively working on opening access, participation and leadership collaboration: finding those who are and supporting their work is another good starting point.

Equity in practice is everyday engagement to ensure equity is upheld in our systems; constant and incremental shifts that address historical and current perpetuation of harm. This work of changing our systems to be equitable will fundamentally benefit us all. 

If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.
- Lilla Watson

Equity in practice means:

It is quite common to hear, ‘There is no funding for equity work’- False.  

This answer is the first perpetuation of inequity. In reality all funding for any project has to be threaded with equity, equitable behavior and processes, awareness, acknowledgement, and collaboration. Fundamentally, equity must be embedded in all projects and acts as a foundation, just as the soil is the foundation to agriculture.

Reflect

What could this look like in practice?

Start early: Build in time and space for initial collaboration with BIPOC or others who have historically been denied access to resources at the onset of a project or process rather than inclusion as an afterthought.

Build relationships: Prioritize building relationships with farmers to better understand their current needs and existing processes and ensure relevant resources are available while they continue to do their work. Avoid outcome based perspective.

Think long term: Support long-term collaboration. This could include reaching out with available resources, meeting people where they are at, writing the grant with them, offering support in editing, etc.

Offering Support: Offering administrative/supportive depending on our personal positionality (access at the individual level) as a tool to address systemic inequity.

Going Further

Read

Racial Equity Tools an incredible resource with many articles on racial justice and liberation, re-imagining equitable futures, and understanding racial equity

Equity plays a role in the management of nature from the Convention on Biological Diversity provides more context on the link between inequity and loss of biodiversity

Decolonize First Decolonize First, a liberating guide & workbook by Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee features 14 letter-size pages of process, prompts and links to resources to support your decolonizing journey. The workbook guides readers through personal and systemic framings and actions to shift out of colonial defaults and into critical consciousness.

Ten High-leverage Equitable Practices | The LEAD Tool provides ten practices for individuals and teams to address and perform equity work

Watch

Reconciling Ways of Knowing - YouTube These dialogues cover Discussions on the importance of reconciling Indigenous and local science with western science in terms of ecosystem management.

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Last Updated June 21, 2022