Sowing Seeds of Change with Farmer Joey
Farmer Joey brings a lamb to visit Gaffney Elementary School each spring.
While most of us know Joey Listro as ROOTS’ Executive Director, students in New Britain enthusiastically shout “Farmer Joey!” whenever he walks into a classroom. His arrival signals that something exciting is about to happen. It might be a visit with a local beekeeper, a trip outside to explore the garden, or a surprise at-school visit from a farm animal.
Inspired by his mom’s cooking and a desire to learn more about where our food comes from, Farmer Joey got his name when he began working on an organic non-profit farm in Maine. “Working as a farmer was challenging, but working in tandem with the environment to produce food was a very simple concept to grasp. Not only was my work personally rewarding, I could see the impact it had on my community,” Joey shares. “I never planned to be a director for a non-profit, but as I continued moving through community and non-profit farms I realized that I wanted to return to my childhood community in New Britain. My knowledge of the city’s strengths, and also what was lacking within the local food system informed my vision for ROOTS.”
Upon his return to New Britain, Joey founded ROOTS in 2013. Today, Joey leads the organization with the same values that guided him as a beginning farmer: kindness, community, and a desire to share his love of the natural world with others. “As our work at ROOTS has expanded over the last 9 years, we’ve learned that the most effective way to foster a just, local food system is through involving the community as much as possible. We are most successful when members of our community take ownership of the work,” he shares.
When not wearing his Farmer Joey hat through ROOTS educational programming, he’s busy channeling his vision for a just food system into words and action through creative writing, partnership building, and strategy development that advances farm to school initiatives across New Britain and Connecticut.
Looking to the future, Joey’s focus is on guiding ROOTS through its next big chapter. “As an organization, we’re at an important moment of transition and growth as we search for a permanent brick and mortar location here in New Britain. Nine years ago we started from the ground up and have since shown our value as an integral part of the community.”
As ROOTS grows and expands, our organization’s guiding principle remains the same. “Food is the common denominator of all people. We use it to build community, culture, and family,” Joey says. “If we are more intentional about the way we feed one another and ourselves, it’s an easy access point to building relationships which in turn build stronger communities.”