Suzanne Potter, Producer
Tuesday, January 2, 2024
Women across California who are farmworkers will get help to maintain home and community gardens using fewer pesticides.
It is the goal of a grant from the GreenLatinos Justicia y Equidad Fund. The advocacy group Alianza Nacional de Campesinas will use the grant to fund the Madre Tierra, or Mother Earth program.
Mily Trevino-Sauceda, executive director of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, said Madre Tierra is a space where farmworker women come together to grow food for their own consumption.
"Using ancestral practices, farmworker women keep alive cherished traditions from around the world," Trevino-Sauceda explained. "We are looking forward to having the resources to increase the necessary skills in the struggle to combat the climate crisis through implementing sustainable practices."
Alianza is one of five environmental justice groups across the U.S. to receive the grant. The Madre Tierra program trains women on regenerative farming practices to minimize the use of pesticides. The group works with eight partner organizations and serves 200 families with small backyard farms or parcels of fertile land.
Trevino-Sauceda pointed out pesticides are a major threat to workers' health.
"It's a new way of thinking about how can we prevent the use and misuse of pesticides," Trevino-Sauceda emphasized. "The chemicals are causing asthma, and harming women who are pregnant and working in the fields. And many of our members have children with special needs or deformities."
A study from the Pesticide Action Network released last year found pesticides contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and make agricultural systems more vulnerable to climate change.
get more stories like this via email

Environment
What if your trash could be the key to a more sustainable wardrobe? The group Keep Orlando Beautiful is proving it is possible with its annual "Trash…
Social Issues
As the Trump administration continues to implement aggressive immigration policies, many Hispanic residents in Florida, a key voting bloc for Trump…
Social Issues
Cuts to the U.S. education system are expected to create a profound ripple effect on students and staff in Hamtramck's already struggling school …
Environment
Indiana's Natural Resources Commission will decide this week whether to allow bobcat trapping, giving Hoosiers one last chance to weigh in. The …
Environment
Local leaders in California are slamming the Trump administration's moves to gut dozens of environmental policies on climate change and pollution in l…
Health and Wellness
Ohioans are seeing changes in their water infrastructure as cities work to replace lead service lines, a requirement under federal regulations…
Environment
Clean-energy advocates in Texas are closely monitoring a bill before the Legislature that, if passed, could stop the development and operation of …
Environment
The Sierra Club is taking the Trump administration to court, joining a slew of legal challenges over the mass firings of federal workers. Sierra …