On November 19, the Jackson School’s Social Innovation Initiative (SII) hosted a discussion on the global agricultural system featuring Tagan Engel, a New Haven-based food justice advocate and community organizer.

Engel, who is also a lecturer at the Yale School of the Environment, talked about the need to shift toward traditional regenerative agricultural practices – not only in how crops are grown and harvested, but how people are positioned in the process.

“Regenerative agriculture is a holistic system that is about learning from nature and farming in a way that is in harmony with nature,” said Engel. “We have to consider soil health and plant wellness, animal wellness, but also human fairness, justice, and wellness.”

Engel is also a resident fellow at the Yale Center for Business and the Environment (CBEY) and an advisor to CBEY’s Regenerative Agricultural Lab, which supports student-led research on regenerative practices.

In her remarks, Engel discussed several ways in which people can consider regenerative agriculture in their everyday lives. She highlighted a network of more than 40 community gardens across New Haven supported by the nonprofit Gather New Haven, which provide locals the land, seeds, and tools to grow their own food, as well as the growth of Peels on Wheels, a mobile food waste pickup and composting operation in partnership with New Haven Farms. Engel herself has served as the community food systems coordinator for City Seed, which operates local farmers’ markets and fosters economic opportunities for a diverse group of aspiring food entrepreneurs in New Haven.

Engel has also sought change on food-related issues at the policy level. She was part of a community effort to establish the New Haven Food System Policy Division, which works closely with city officials on initiatives that include urban agriculture, equitable food-oriented development, and food systems data and mapping.

“Whatever work I am doing, I want to make sure that I inform myself through people that are closest to the issue,” she said. “There can be a real disconnect between creating a solution from where we sit at the end of the supply chain versus understanding all of the details that lead up to that solution being used.”

With that in mind, Engel encouraged those in attendance to take action by considering their own positionality. “The problems can seem overwhelming,” she said, “so just think about how you can make change in different ways – as one person, with unique skills, with your unique position in the world.”

The SII is a new initiative at the Jackson School, bringing together students, practitioners, and scholars working on social innovation to address the world’s most pressing problems. The initiative offers elective courses, advises students, and hosts guest speakers from the New Haven community and across Connecticut.

The November 19 talk was the culmination of a three-part lecture series hosted by the SII this fall. In September, Erik Clemons, co-founder of Connecticut Community Outreach and Revitalization Program (ConnCORP), spoke about the importance of starting local to address systemic inequalities and build a resilient economy. In October, the initiative hosted a discussion with Caterina Passoni, co-founder of Havenly, a New Haven-based social enterprise that builds upon the community power of refugee and migrant women.

“Each speaker left me feeling such awe for the knowledge that is being generated right here in the New Haven community through thoughtful, purposeful design and implementation of organizations and programs,” said Teresa Chahine, Yale lecturer and faculty director of SII. “Our students were exposed to insights they otherwise would not have been exposed to at Yale.”

Jackson grad student Cristina Mendoza Mora MPP ’26 agreed. “SII has created an amazing platform to gain insights into the practical implementation of social innovation,” she said.