CFAES Connect: February 2021

A love affair with agriculture

By: Tracy Turner

It was a love of food that began when a young Yolanda Owens, ’07, spent summers at her grandparent’s home in North Carolina.

Memories there of her grandmother planting in the garden and later, the delicious aroma of persimmon bread baked from scratch using persimmons her grandmother foraged and picked with her own hands, spurred Owens to begin growing food in her own backyard on Columbus’ south side. It was there that Owens formed a lasting connection with food.

Years later, that love of food and agriculture led the Columbus-native to CFAES, where she earned her Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural communication and international economic and social development. Owens, who is the first Black/Latinx president of the CFAES Alumni Society Board, has since translated her passion into a career that affords her the opportunity to help to grow a love of agriculture in the next generation of Black and Brown youth—by helping them reclaim their place as stewards of the land. 

“As an advocate of healthy food access, much of my career has been to connect youth to healthy food,” she said. “Whether it is teaching about how to grow food, what to eat, what career choices they have, I want to connect the dots between Black people and our food.

“I believe that we need to be sitting at the decision-making table when it comes to Ohio’s number-one economic contributor, agriculture.”

That’s significant, considering that of the nation’s 2.2 million family-owned farms, only 5% are minority owned, with 2% of those owned by Black farmers, Owens said. In Ohio, according to the 2017 U.S. Department of Agriculture Ohio Census of Agriculture, there are only 136 black owners of farms across the state’s 88 counties.

Owens, who is the founder and chief cultivator of Forage + Black, forageandblack.com, an apparel and garden consulting company, has a goal of helping change this narrative by promoting interest in agriculture careers among students of color.

“Agriculture is the No. 1 industry in Ohio, so it’s important to more educate students of color in this field so that they can be a part of this huge space in our economy,” she said. “Without any knowledge of agriculture, students of color are missing out in this sector.”

Part of that could be achieved by promoting agriculture education in more schools, including districts with larger minority student populations, Owens said in a recent TEDx Talk.

“Where best to sow the seed to be able to connect our youth to food, to fiber and to fuel and understanding their food system through the science curriculum?” Owens said. “And then, using the school grounds to be able to have learning gardens to connect Black and Brown students to become and to know about the George Washington Carvers, who developed regenerative agriculture systems, or teaching them how to be profitable or to establish careers in food and agriculture.

“I mean, we all have to eat right?

Cathann A. Kress, vice president for agricultural administration and dean of The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES), delivered the State of the College Address from the new CFAES Wooster Science Building with a YouTube Premiere on Jan. 22.

To read a summary of her goals for CFAES in 2021 and beyond, click here.  

To view the full program, click the video below.  

The Environmental Professionals Network (EPN)—a service of the CFAES School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR)—connects Ohio’s environmental professionals and others passionate about our natural resources through in-person and online activities. The network hosts monthly breakfast programs and virtual events focused on innovative and pressing environmental topics, such as bipartisan approaches for wildlife conservation, inclusive strategies for land management, and collaborative approaches to solving emerging water pollution issues. EPN aligns inspirational speakers with compelling topics aimed at helping participants build their networks and grow professionally.  

Through this network, participants also have free access to many online networking capabilities, such as marketing, querying, information sharing, and more. Participants are also encouraged to create and share content such as job postings, reports, and event announcements.  

In its eight-year history, over 3,000 unique individuals have participated in EPN breakfast programs, and this year, the network surpassed 2,200 online participants.

Virtual programs are free to the public but require registration. Not available during a program time? No problem! Programs are recorded and shared on EPN’s YouTube Channel.  

To learn more about EPN and its past and future programs, click here.  

February's program, A World of Sustainable Pathways, a Focus on Cardinal Health, aired on Feb. 9. The recording of the program is available on the EPN YouTube Channel.

Below, you will find a program overview: 

Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health Inc. is an integrated healthcare services and products company, providing customized solutions for hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories, and physician offices worldwide. Cardinal Health is Essential to Care™ by providing clinically proven medical products and pharmaceuticals and cost-effective solutions that enhance supply chain efficiency from hospital to home. Backed by nearly 100 years of experience, with approximately 50,000 employees in 46 countries, Cardinal Health ranks among the top 25 on the Fortune 500.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Cardinal Health’s mission is more important than ever. Through collaboration with industry partners and the U.S federal government, Cardinal Health is manufacturing and distributing critical pandemic response inventory for more than 100,000 medical products in unprecedented demand. 

Cardinal Health understands that the long-term health of communities, its colleagues, customers, and partners depends on a sustainable world. The strategic function leading Cardinal Health’s global sustainability effort is its Environment, Health, Safety, and Sustainability Team (EHSS). This team provides a unique glimpse into the path of an EHSS professional and the opportunity one has to achieve rewarding sustainability results in support of Cardinal Health’s global operation.

Join this program to learn about how intergenerational SENR alumni and leaders of Cardinal Health’s EHSS team—Andrew Wehr (’95), Mike Bellantis (’10), and Caleb Thomas (’11)—have influenced the sustainability journey of this Ohio-based Fortune 500 company.

You will also learn from the leaders of Net Impact, an Ohio State student organization that explores the intersection between business and sustainability. Members will share their sustainability aspirations and provide a student’s perspective on what sustainability should encompass going forward. The corporate world, like many pillars of society, is early in its sustainability journey. Join this EPN virtual event to explore lessons learned from one leading company’s experience in calculating and reducing its global environmental footprint.