‘Behind The Leaf’ is a new video series to inspire and empower current and future generations in the horticulture industry
Insights on vertical farming
What is the goal of Behind the Leaf?
In Behind the Leaf, we’ll sit down with horticultural specialists from underrepresented communities to discuss what brought them into horticulture, what advice they have for those interested in a farming career, and what their hopes are for the next generation.
It is our hope that the Behind the Leaf series will help amplify the voices of those working in horticulture. While great strides have been made, U.S. and Canadian agriculture are still deeply inequitable institutions. According to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, women, and people of color were vastly underrepresented in high-level positions on American farms. In Canada, while the number of Aboriginal farm operators—First Nations, Métis, Inuit—has grown in the last twenty years, even while the non-Aboriginal farm population shrank dramatically, these colonized groups still comprise less than 2 percent of total Canadian farm operators when they account for almost 5 percent of the total Canadian population.
It is our hope that grow operations will act as fertile ground for discussions about how to bring equity to horticulture and show the future generations that the industry is a place for them.
Who did we talk to?
Who did we talk to?
In our inaugural video, the Behind the Leaf series talks to the staff of Harbor Farmz, a cannabis grower and cannabis-product producer in Michigan.
- Packaging Department Manager | Ceejay Steiner
- Director of Plant Tissue Culture | Deb Sweeney
- Kitchen Manager | Jessica Lavery
- Marketing | Kayla Beard
- Lab Assistant | Madison Merrick
- Lab Packaging Manager | Haley Avery
- Trim and Packaging | Nathaly Olavarria
- Cultivation Assistant | Janeth Carrasco
Our questions ran the gamut from the personal to the professional, from where farming was to where it’s going. We’d like to thank the staff at Harbor Farmz for their participation and insights.
