Agriculture, Black History, and a Path Forward

The history (and present-day) of the American food and farming system is rife with discrimination and injustices against Black farmers and BIPOC communities in everything from the availability of land and resources to the unequal distribution of fresh food.

Yet as we wrap up Black History Month, we wanted to take a moment to look ahead with hope and celebrate the people within the Black community who are overcoming our unjust system to build a better and brighter future. Below, you will hear from four Black farmers, community leaders, and entrepreneurs who represent Black excellence in the world of urban farming. We hope that Black History Month is only the beginning of our work with these inspiring individuals as we support them in achieving all their goals!

Tony Hillery from Harlem Grown
New York City, NY

Tony is the Founder and Executive Director of Harlem Grown, a youth development organization in Harlem, NYC. Tony created Harlem Grown as a way to inspire kids to lead healthy and ambitious lives through mentorship and hands-on education in urban farming, sustainability, and nutrition.

“We’ve discovered a simple formula: if a child plants it, they will eat it…Everything we grow is free of charge to our children and their families. We teach our children every Saturday how to grow it, how to prepare it, and how to eat it.” — Tony, Change Food Fest 2016

Harlem Grown’s programs target elementary-aged students, the majority of which live below the poverty line and rely on school meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Tony came up with the idea for Harlem Grown while volunteering at a Harlem elementary school and seeing firsthand how little access and awareness there was for healthy food.

“Children in Harlem cannot identify simple vegetables. They can tell you a tomato, a carrot, broccoli, everything else is salad, salad, salad–eggplant is ‘purple salad’. And they don’t eat salad.” — Tony, Change Food Fest 2016

Harlem Grown steps in and creates programs with the intention of introducing kids to healthy habits from an early age. The organization takes a holistic approach to reforming food injustice, understanding that it’s about more than just providing and distributing food. Instead, their model looks to positively impact the entire community through mentoring and education programs, and partnerships that drive sustainable change.

Just one of the ways Harlem Grown is making a difference is by physically renovating abandoned lots in Harlem and turning them into thriving urban farms!

“In the school where I first started, directly across the street there was an abandoned community garden that we took and developed into a youth garden. But from that garden…in a four block radius we have 11 homeless shelters. More shockingly, we have 54 fried chicken restaurants in a three block radius, 29 pharmacies, and not one affordable food option.” — Tony, Change Food Fest 2016

Ten years later, Harlem Grown has 12 urban agriculture facilities in Harlem, ranging from soil-based farms and hydroponic greenhouses to school gardens, all growing fresh, healthy, and free food for the community. You can follow all their success on Instagram and donate directing to the organization to support their amazing work.

Mario Vitalis from New Age Provisions
Indianapolis, ID

Mario found his way to urban farming indirectly. As an entrepreneur and real estate investor, he was looking for ways to make empty lots around Indianapolis useful. During this time, he discovered Freight Farms and the container farming model and realized it was the kind of scalable business model he was looking for. Today, he operates two container farms as part of New Age Provisions, growing fresh food to help bring more equal access and healthy options to his food desert neighborhood.

Yet Mario’s journey to farming was about more than business and community reform–it was also about redefining what it means to be a Black farmer in America. Today, of the country’s 3.4 million farmers, only 1.3% (45,507) are Black, and they own only 1% of America’s farmland.

“My organization helps enlighten people like myself to the concept of hydroponic farming in a controlled environment as opposed to traditional farming where you have more uncontrollable factors. With the [container farm], you remove the need to own large acres of farmland and the learning curve required to master the uncontrollable factors of traditional farming. I want African Americans to see that there is a new age of farming here that they can participate in whether they live in urban or rural communities.” — Mario

Mario’s connection to farming is also personal, allowing him to connect to his heritage and to create a positive legacy for his family.

“Farming helps me connect to a tradition of my ancestors. As an African American, my heritage transitioned from slaves in the field to sharecroppers in the South, to new age farming in the City. I started farming because of the opportunity to become the first owner of a Freight Farm and the first African American owner in the state of Indiana. This business opportunity enables me to have something sustainable to pass down through my family.⁠⁠” — Mario

Follow Mario’s farming journey on Instagram at @newageprovisions and, if you’re in the Indianapolis area, check out his produce on MarketWagon and Barn2Door!

Melissa L. Jones from Edible Activist & Felicia Bell from RD&S Farms
Brandon, MS

Melissa hosts the Edible Activist podcast by Food Talks n Color, an organization dedicated to amplifying the journeys, perspectives, and stories of BIPOC people in the food and agriculture industries. On her podcast, Melissa interviews growers, farmers, artists, healers, and other inspiring individuals who perform exemplary acts of activism in their everyday lives.

True to her mission, when asked to share her perspective, Melissa chose to elevate the voice of one of her recent podcast guests, Felicia Bell, a Mississippi native and farmer who is carrying on their family’s agricultural legacy.

As the owner and operator of RD&S Farm in Brandon, MS, Felicia uses the traditional agricultural methods she learned from her grandfather. From raising sheep, ducks, and rabbits to producing vegetables, fruits, and nuts, the land has sustained the Bell family for many generations. For Felicia, the ability to grow and produce off the land has been a true act of liberation.

The family was able to turn their personal farm into a business by growing lucrative pecans, and have added other food and health operations to the business since. Thanks to the land and business she inherited from her family, Felicia is able to live stress-free, provide for her family, and educate farmers and gardeners around the world about natural living through traditional farming.⁠⁠

“[I define land liberation as the ability] to be you. I am able because of the strategies of my ancestors for a baby they did not know yet. They made me be able to live stress-free. I wanted to live a stress-free life. Having the land gives me that side of my life as freedom. I know I can provide the food for [my family]. I know they have areas to play without me being stressed. The legacy of this farm as well as to become that farm training entity around the world to help farmers who look like me and have not been given the leg up. So now I can help them maneuver and leverage what they have.”⁠⁠ — Felicia

Felicia is an amazing example of how land access paves the way for the aggregation of resources, intergenerational success, and stability. Her story highlights the true cost of the policies that have historically denied Black farmers the resources and the opportunities to own their own land, denying millions of families the chance to find a similar path. To learn more about Felicia and the importance of land liberation, you can listen to her full-length podcast in Edible Activist Podcast Ep. #061⁠⁠ and support her work by following @rdsfarm.

For more amazing stories from Melissa and the Edible Activist team, follow @foodtalksncolor, join the Edible Activist online community, and check out the Edible Activist podcast on iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcast.

Shantae Johnson & Arthur Shavers Jr. from Mudbone Grown
Portland, OR

Shantae and Arthur started Mudbone Grown to promote intergenerational community-based farming and create measurable and sustainable environment, social, acultural, and economic impact.

Every year, Mudbone Grown introduces a new farming program to help them achieve their goals. Their next chapter of work is setting up their non-profit: the Feed’em Freedom Foundation, the natural evolution of the Mudbone Grown mission.

“Our goal has been to always honor our ancestors’ wisdom as land stewards, train the next generation of food movement leaders through farming, while building cultural pride that is rootes in food sovereignty.” — Shantae

To help young people in their community get introduced to farming, Shantae and Arthur have created the Propagation Produce for the People (PPP) Apprenticeship program for Black and justice-impacted youth. The PPP is designed to help youth from this community gain skills within the green economy through regenerative agriculture.

“It is imperative that we invest in youth green workforce development and post-incarceration opportunities that nurture culturally resilient community members. PPP will cultivate diverse youth leadership that are reflections of the communities we serve, bring unique expertise, and create transformative change.” — Shantae

PPP and the Feed’em Freedom Foundation work together to expose young people to farming and management skills. Mudbone Grown offers hands-on work experience on their soil farm, as well as in their commercial greenhouse and aquaponics system. Next on the list? Mudbone Grown is fundraising to add a Freight Farm to their farm roster! Every little bit of support helps: check out their Freight Farm donations page, support their operations by purchasing Mudbone Solidarity Love Share for Black Families, or order directly from their Barn2Door marketplace (if you’re in the Portland, Oregon area).

The past month spent getting to know these farmers, celebrating their projects, and supporting their efforts to transform the future of agriculture and food access has been beyond inspiring for the whole Freight Farms team. We greatly appreciate the time our spotlight farmers spent working with us, and we cannot wait to grow our partnerships in the future.

Know a farmer, grower, entrepreneur, community manager, or general bad*ss that we should feature? Email us at growfoodhere@freightfarms.com and share a little bit about their story.