This Award Winner Is Training Our Future Farmers

Each year, the JBF Leadership Awards honor five individuals or organizations responsible for creating a healthier, safer, and more equitable and sustainable food world. Our 2019 recipients touch on all sectors of the food system, from farming to manufacturing to college campuses and cafeterias. Despite their disparate titles and roles, what unites these visionaries is their passion for creating more equity, opportunity, and innovation in each step of the journey from field to plate.

2019 Leadership Award honoree Leah Penniman is a Black Kreyol educator, farmer, author, and food justice activist. As co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, Penniman helps to facilitate food sovereignty programs such as farmer training for people of color, a subsidized farm food distribution program for communities living under food apartheid, and domestic and international organizing toward equity in the food system. Learn more about her work in the video above.

See the full list of 2019 and past Leadership Award recipients and learn more about the Awards.