Erin McFarland
Development Coordinator
she/her

When Erin was focusing on environmental justice at the University of South Carolina, she realized that our food systems need a lot of improvement. Erin is incredibly passionate about human rights and believes that food sovereignty is a right that is being denied to a sizeable portion of the US population. It took Erin years of studying the environment to have an understanding of the vastness of this issue, so she realized that people who are not in this niche community may have no idea about the food injustices happening right in their own communities.

While there are many opportunities to dismantle the systems of environmental oppression, Erin believes that urban farming is one of the most holistic approaches. From mitigating environmental stressors to bringing communities together to providing healthy food, urban farming touches many aspects of her passions. Erin also believes that while large-scale policy solutions are incredibly important, there is a more rapid opportunity for change and more opportunity for impact to be felt in a local and community-based approach. Urban Harvest’s mission of education is what made Erin fall in love with the organization. She believes that if everyone fully understood what was happening in our food systems, they too would be impassioned to make a change.

Erin has seen all of the many sides of urban farming in her quest to gain a complete understanding of the issue and its solutions. After working with a sustainable urban farm and studying the agricultural systems in school, Erin pursued an AmeriCorps VISTA position in St. Louis to gain an understanding of this specific community and its needs. Erin has worked as a farm hand, an educator, a volunteer coordinator, and is now moving into a development role. She feels that her well-rounded understanding of urban farming will help her to realize well- rounded solutions to the food justice issues in St. Louis.

Email: erin@urbanharveststl.org