While the phrase “sustainable farming” is often thought of as synonymous with “farming in a way that doesn’t harm the environment,” Amy Benerofe, Our New Way Garden’s founder, recognizes the multi-faceted implications of this phrase.
“There is a huge social justice and economic component to sustainability,” she notes. “Your business can be in the green, but it isn’t sustainable if your lowest-paid employees aren’t making minimum wage. You are standing on the bottom tier to run your organization.” She credits the impactful Education for Sustainability course she took at Manhattanville for this expanded worldview.
Amy personally makes sure to pay her interns at least $15 to $20 an hour.
“I know I could be paying them less, but I don’t want to stretch out their time by paying them unfairly for my own benefit,” she says.
In addition, Our New Way Garden is committed to growing organic, pesticide-free food that nurtures the environment, and donates its fresh, nutritious food to underserved communities to help break the barriers keeping them from a middle-class lifestyle.
Amy believes that mother nature follows the laws of abundance. “If you plant one seed and nurture it, you get many seeds,” she notes. “We live in a society where this paradigm is reversed. We are disconnected from sustainability, but the beauty within people gives me hope for the future.”