YuLin Zhen, Photography Editor

The Yale Sustainable Food Program, or YSFP, Global Food Fellowship offers undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to study food systems beyond the University campus. This year, nine students were selected to explore topics ranging from Malawi agriculture practices to Māori food economies.

Every Global Food Fellow chooses a guiding question that explores the ecological, social and economic issues of food systems. Students are required to present a substantive approach and methodology in researching predominant food systems and solutions. 

“At YSFP we tend to think in terms of ‘principles, not recipes’ for a sustainable food future,” YSFP Manager Jacqueline Munno said. “This agroecology axiom was coined by the scholar Miguel Altieri, and it’s a guide for how we read applications and perceive the success of proposed projects. Projects that are seeking to uncover the roots of big messy problems and explore values-based approaches to changemaking tend to catch our eye.”

Founded in 2014, the fellowship began when YSFP received a gift for its 10th anniversary. Munno said that this gift allowed them to create this fellowship to support students who didn’t have enough resources to explore their curiosities in agriculture. The YSFP also offers a certificate in food, agriculture and climate change as well as many opportunities to be on the Yale Farm. 

Fellows are required to write a reflective blog for YSFP’s blog, Voices, and present their work at the “knead 2 know” series, a weekly research presentation series within the YSFP hosted at the farm. Previous projects have focused on the nutrition of indigenous crops in Cochabamba, Bolivia, nutrition education and sex trafficking in Serbia and gastro-political ecology and food system change in Dolpo, Nepal.

The News spoke with three members of the latest cohort about how the fellowship is supporting their research in food sustainability.

Māori food economies in New Zealand

Ivy Pete ’26 spent her summer in New Zealand focusing on researching how the Māori people share their traditional knowledge through food preparation, cultivation and consumption processes. 

As a Native woman, Pete said that her research is grounded in an “Indigenous way of knowing” and a decolonial methodology. Her methodology was influenced by the works of Linda Tuhiwai Smith, a Mana wahine scholar and thinker. 

“Through a photo-ethnographic medium, I aim to map the Māori food landscape in Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) through narrative and oral storytelling, documenting the agricultural and domestic labor at the foundation of the traditional food system,” Pete wrote.

Pete explored Māori micro-economies and is excited to give her “knead 2 know” talk on Nov. 1 in conjunction with the celebration of Fall Feast. 

Pete added that YSFP has been committed through the Yale Farm and beyond to the Indigenous agendas of the food sovereignty movement at large. 

“Emerging out of collaboration with a social enterprise, Pā to Plate, I immersed myself in local efforts to promote sustainable, sovereign Māori food systems across the Northland,” Pete wrote. “In custom and tradition, the winter months are a time for storytelling…I was honored to be welcomed as whanau, or family, entrusted and honored to share stories from my home community, while also listening and learning from the kaupapa and kōrero of Māori elders.”

Land justice in Northeastern U.S.

Sophia Hampton ENV ’25 found herself interested in the intersection of agroforestry and land reform. Hampton is pursuing a dual degree at Vermont Law School and the School of Environment. 

Hampton first became curious in the field of agroforestry, the integration of tree crops on farmland, when it began gaining traction as a climate-smart agriculture process. American farms traditionally depend on annual crops and farm land ownership is heavily racialized. 

“In one case, the USDA was putting $60 million to directly pay landowners to plant trees on our land,” Hampton said. “What is stopping this from being an investment in white land ownership? How is this actually supporting any sort of equity or access or justice as far as land access goes, and is agroforestry just going to be like another thing that only a few white farmers are going to get to participate in?”

Hampton decided to take a qualitative methodology approach. Hampton traveled to Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, Rhode Island and Maine via car. She camped and conducted at 20 sites, gathering a total of around 80 interviews. 

Fruit crops across the Northeast have been plentiful, Hampton added. Visiting different farms, Hampton was able to taste and research first-hand agricultural practices at each site. 

“I love perennials and agroforestry because I feel like they just offer really delicious harvests,” Hampton said. “And so I got to show up at these places and eat handfuls and handfuls of berries. So that was fun and affirming to be doing research in a sector that creates opportunities for really delicious experiences.”

Hampton looks forward to seeing how her research culminates into a field that has impacted a lot of the communities she has worked with. 

Sustainable agriculture practices in Malawi

Emma Barrett ’25 examined what types of agricultural practices are the most efficient and helpful for farmers. Barrett interviewed 50 smallholder farmers in the Ntcheu district of Malawi, partnering with the Zisinthe Farm and Community Gardens. 

Barrett added that a lot of agricultural support programs such as government subsidies do not provide long-term benefits for climate and gender equity.

“One of the most profound takeaways from Malawi is a different perspective on generosity,” Barrett said. “Directly after these conversations, many of the farmers shared their food, a precious and often scarce resource, with me as a sign of friendship and hospitality. Generosity for neighbors and visitors was incredibly poignant in the Malawian communities I lived in, and it inspires me to reflect on how I can bring that collective generosity to my communities at home.”

Barrett added that the YSFP staff created many opportunities to share and discuss with other students. 

“On a professional level we hope that students gain contacts, credibility and a great line for their CV,” Munno said. “On a heart level, we hope that students return from their explorations hopeful, humble, and inspired to be active co-authors of the future they want to live in.”

The “knead 2 know” is hosted by the Yale Sustainable Food Program every Friday at the Yale Farm. 

Correction, Sept. 27: The article has been updated to correct Hampton’s quote.