It’s time to embrace the simple fact: There will be no climate justice if there is not also social justice.
Until all people are educated, have access to health care, and are fed nutrient-rich food, we won’t have everyone on board for the mass mobilization needed to reverse the climate crisis we face as one humanity.
In a functioning ecosystem, everyone should have access to farm-fresh organic foods regardless of socioeconomic status.
One of the ways we can support both climate and social justice is to support Black and Brown farmers who are out there regenerating the soil, while feeding underserved communities challenged with food insecurity and food apartheid (racist and oppresive systems that create inequitable food environments where there is little or no access to fresh produce or fresh foods).
Due to systemic racism and discriminatory practices in farming, currently less than 4% of America’s farmers are Black and Brown. Against the odds, many of these farmers are leading the way toward food sovereignty and regenerative organic agriculture and deserve widespread support.
Here are six Black and Brown farmers who are making in the intersection between climate justice and social justice:
FarmerJawn
@farmerjawnphilly
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Founded by Christa Barfield, FarmerJawn in Philadelphia follows regenerative farming practices that concentrate on soil health and increasing access to organic food to underserved communities. The city of Philadelphia is plagued with food-insecure families that work 40+ hours per week and still don’t have access to chemical-free food options. Why? Because they don’t understand the importance of it and because the access just isn’t there.
FarmerJawn aims to create change and bring awareness to the matters of food waste and food insecurity and the symbiotic relationship between the two through their CSA, educational events, and a food store that offers everything the community needs to grow their own food.
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Big City Gardener
@bigcitygardener
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No matter the size of your space, Big City Gardener, Timothy Hammond wants you to grow healthy foods for nutrition and medicine and build healthy soil. He believes that gardening helps people remember that we need nature, and nature needs us – and that we’re all connected, through food and through gardening. Timothy’s educational blog, Tik Tok, and Instagram feed helps model that anyone can grow their own food and learn from the land.
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Soul Fire Farm
@soulfirefarm
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Soul Fire Farm is an Afro-Indigenous-centered community farm committed to uprooting racism and seeding sovereignty in the food system. The farm raises and distributes life-giving food as a means to end food apartheid.
“We use Afro-indigenous agroforestry, silvopasture, wildcrafting, polyculture, and spiritual farming practices to regenerate 80 acres of mountainside land, producing fruits, plant medicine, pasture-raised livestock, honey, mushrooms, vegetables, and preserves for community provisioning, with the majority of the harvest provided to people living under food apartheid and targeted by state violence. Our ancestral farming practices build topsoil, sequester soil carbon, and increase biodiversity. The buildings on the farm are hand-constructed, using local wood, adobe, straw bales, solar heat, and reclaimed materials.”
Soulfire’s food sovereignty programs reach over 160,000 people each year, including farmer training for Black and Brown growers, reparations and land return initiatives for northeast farmers, food justice workshops for urban youth, home gardens for city-dwellers living under food apartheid, doorstep harvest delivery for food-insecure households, and systems and policy education for public decision-makers.
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Green Heffa Farm
@greenheffafarm
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Founded by Clarenda “Cee” Stanley, Green Heffa Farms is a 14.84 acre farm in North Carolina, a tea company, a natural health brand, and an educational resource. This farm is defying stereotypes and removing barriers for those who look to farming as a way to change the quality of their life while doing good, growing nutrient-rich foods and herbs for others ecologically.
Green Heffa’s mission is to provide their customers with an exemplary experience while expanding access to agriculture for underserved and underrepresented farmers. Cee herself is a student of heritage farming and indigenous traditional knowledge and incorporates honor and reverence to the ancestors throughout the farm’s processes, products, and presentations. You can purchase Green Heffa Farms regenerative organic teas and hemp steams which are absolutely divine!
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Black Girls with Gardens
@blackgirlswithgardens
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Founded by full-time therapist Jasmine Jefferson, Black Girls with Gardens (BGWG) is an online collective dedicated to increasing representation in gardening spaces, education, and inspiration to women of color interested in gardening and creating green spaces. For the newbie plant mom of 1, the woman with the potted plant army, or the aspiring farmer, BGWG has you covered with loads of resources on growing herbs, veggie gardens, container gardens, house plants, and more.
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Alma Backyard Farms
@almabackyardfarms
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ALMA, a LatinX organization, exists to reclaim the lives of formerly incarcerated people, repurpose land into productive urban farms, and re-imagine communities as places for people & plants to thrive. They do this through urban gardens, urban agriculture job training, youth education programs, and their farmstand enterprise which grows and distributes organic, whole foods within food-insecure communities.
Their why? To reconnect the lives of the formerly incarcerated back to the fabric of society so they can attain gainful employment and become self-sufficient. They believe that Urban Farming helps everyone involved explore the relationships between plants, animals, and humans as a way of creating a profound connection to both nature and their community.
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Cover image by @soulfirefarm
What Black or Brown farmers do you follow? Leave a comment on social and share with our readers!
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