Karen Washington is a farmer, activist, and food advocate. She is co-owner/farmer at Rise & Root Farm in Chester, New York. In 2010, she cofounded Black Urban Growers (BUGS) an organization supporting growers in both urban and rural settings. Karen has received numerous awards, most recently the co-recipient of the 2023 James Beard Humanitarian Award and the 2024 Emerson Collective Fellowship. She has also been credited with the term food apartheid instead of food desert, to bring to the forefront the inequities seen in the food system. Mama K, as she is known in the community, serves on the boards of the New York Botanical Gardens, Black Farmer Fund, Soul Fire Farm, the Mary Mitchell Center, and Green Workers Cooperative.