If not you, then who?
Kellie Adesina, Director, Government Affairs, Crop Science, Bayer U.S.
Editor’s note: In honor of Black History Month, we have invited Bayer’s Kellie Adesina to pen a blog. Kellie recently was named to Lawyers of Color’s Top Lobbyists and Influencers list. In late 2020, she also co-founded a new organization — Black Professionals in Food and Agriculture.
“…there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we’re brave enough to be it.”
These are the powerful words that stood out to me from Amanda Gorman’s poem, “The Hill We Climb” presented at President Joe Biden’s inauguration. At just 22 years of age, Amanda is our nation’s first-ever youth poet laureate. In an interview, she explained that hope isn’t something that we ask of others; it’s something that we have to demand from ourselves.
This message resonated for me, reminding me of a conversation I had with a colleague where I shared that it felt like people always looked to me, a black person, for reactions and solutions to the racial injustices in the world. “Why does it have to be on me?” I asked.
“If not you, then who?” my colleague responded. She reminded me that we often talked about representation and about having a seat at the table. “You are now in the room. You are now at the table,” she said. “You have an opportunity to make a difference.”
Introducing BPFA
Last fall, my colleagues and I launched a new organization — Black Professionals in Food and Agriculture (BPFA). You see, for the better part of my career, I have worked in agriculture — providing input into both the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills, serving at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and on the House Agriculture Committee, and currently working in industry at Bayer.
There are not a lot of people who look like me, people of color, in this field, particularly in senior positions — those with a “seat at the table.” Yet, I believe my diverse perspectives are exactly what have helped me to be a strong advocate for agriculture.
Unlike many in the agriculture field, I was not raised on a farm. I spent much of my childhood living in Newark, New Jersey, a metropolitan area.
Like me, fewer and fewer Americans live in rural communities or have a connection to a farm. Fewer understand the importance of agriculture and how it relates to their lives. So how do we make the Farm Bill, for example, relevant to folks who don’t deal with the issues of agriculture on a day-to-day basis?
While not all of us have grown up on a farm, all of us eat. Agriculture is vital to our everyday lives, and it’s probably safe to say we all want access to safe and healthy foods. I start with this premise to bring different sides together, explain why agriculture is important to all communities, and demonstrate how we have more in common than we think.
A challenge to the new administration
One of the first actions BPFA took was to write an opinion piece with advice for the incoming administration.
We listed several recommendations to support diversity and inclusion in agriculture, specifically at the USDA. We would like to see people of color included in the development of policies and programs that serve America’s farmers, ranchers, producers and others.
We understand the value diversity and inclusion can bring to an organization. While the five of us who launched BPFA are all black, we are a rather diverse group. Some of us are city dwellers from the North and Midwest, while others were born and raised in the rural South. Also, we work in different sectors of food and agriculture — from nutrition to sustainability to biotech and gene-editing. Further, we are a bipartisan group.
Like everyone else in the country, we have a broad range of different opinions. At times we may disagree on approaches, but like anything else, we talk it out. We share the same desire to ensure that diverse voices — whether that diversity is based on ethnicity or other demographic factors or on viewpoints — are represented in conversations.
Many agricultural organizations often talk about the difficulty of finding underrepresented talent. BPFA hopes to play a role in addressing that issue.
If not now, then when?
As I reflect on where we are as a nation, I cannot sugar-coat the reality of recent events. Nevertheless, I see reason for optimism.
I have been working at Bayer for just over a year. I already have seen numerous examples that have let me know this is a company where I will be supported and where I can grow.
Through Bayer’s commitment to a variety of employee-led business resource groups, such as ARISE (a group for African Descendants and allies), the company’s leaders continue to seek a pulse check on their actions and a consistent stream of recommendations for supporting diversity and inclusion. My immediate bosses have supported me in the launch of BPFA, encouraged me to lead a company-sponsored session about why representation matters, asked me to lead an internal Inclusion & Diversity task force, and shared my input surrounding diversity actions with our North American Leadership Team.
While there is still plenty of work to be done, I am encouraged by people who have shown a willingness to engage. Reflecting back on Amanda Gorman’s poem, one line really captured my emotions: “We learned that quiet isn’t always peace, and the norms and notions of what ‘just is’ isn’t always justice.”
So I will speak up. Unity, equality and hope have to start with me. So, I echo my colleague’s challenge to myself and everyone who reads this article: “If not you, then who?”
And I add to it, “If not now, then when?”
Learn more about the Black Professionals in Food and Agriculture (BPFA).
Link to the newly launched BPFA website here.
