Marginalised agrarian traditions as a tool for climate justice

Many marginalised communities have long-standing food-growing traditions, yet the climate crisis imperils global food security and disproportionately impacts marginalised communities. Increasingly, researchers posit that networks of decentralised peri-urban agriculture can strengthen food security. In this qualitative study, I ask: what can we learn from marginalised agrarian traditions that might be useful to those marginalised communities in collectively surviving climate change? To answer that question, I conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 23 marginalised food growers and community leaders in the deindustrialised city of Ypsilanti, Michigan, USA. I find that growing food helps to build resilience to food insecurity and climate change but is difficult because of land injustice. Policy and practice implications include the need for the following: (1) housing justice; (2) proactive planning in areas that are expected to serve as climate refuges; and (3) reparations and land rematriation to address the disparate impacts of climate disaster in marginalised communities.