Harold Tarver
Harold V. Tarver is the Interim Senior Manager for Programs and Partnerships at Food First, where he uplifts stories, strategies, and solutions that advance food justice. For more than three decades, Harold has partnered with urban and rural communities in the US, Africa, the Caribbean, and Asia, sharing knowledge and building networks for stronger, more self-determined food systems.
Previously, Harold served as an Agricultural Development Advisor with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, leading programs that strengthened agricultural capacity, market access, and climate resilience in partnership with farmers, ministries, and cooperatives worldwide. Before USDA, he worked with Africare, managing food security and agricultural livelihoods projects across West Africa.
A longtime advocate of Participatory Action Research and community-led change, Harold believes research must be done with people, not about them. His current work at Food First includes the WriteShop research project, amplifying the voices of Black and Brown farmers globally and turning those insights into practical tools for resilient, just, and abundant food systems.
Harold holds a M.A. in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis, and a B.A. in Political Science from Tufts University.