Later this spring, for the first time ever, farmers of color in West Michigan will be able to apply for a grant through the
West Michigan Farmers of Color Land Fund to help them buy, maintain, and improve agricultural land.
It took three years for supporters of the West Michigan Farmers of Color Land Fund—one of 51 coalitions nationwide that are affiliated with the
National Young Farmers Coalition—to raise $50,000 to award the first round of grants. A GoFundMe campaign generated 70% of the funds, and the rest came from grants.
A review committee is being formed to evaluate applications and award grants.
“Land ownership is the only pathway to a just, equitable, and sustainable future for farmers,” says Payge Solidago, Michigan organizer for the National Young Farmers Coalition. “Access to land empowers communities to be self-sufficient, food secure, and resilient in the face of climate change and unstable food systems, globally.”
Unfortunately, the outlook for aspiring farmers is not ideal, Solidago says. Vacant land in and around Grand Rapids is scarce and expensive. Nationwide, 40% of land used for agricultural purposes is leased. Farmers who own their land are more likely to invest in and grow their operations, Solidago says.
The West Michigan land fund is intended to address generational injustices against Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers. Over the past century, racial prejudice and discriminatory lending practices against Black and brown people contributed to a significant decline in the number of Black-owned farms.
Nationwide, only 2% of farmers are Black. In Michigan, the percentage is more dismal, only 0.4%, according to a
National Young Farmers Coalition report.
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Kristin Zuller
Solidago says she knows of 10 Black people farming in West Michigan. Typically, farming is a side hustle to a more lucrative occupation that “pays the bills,” she says. Some are farming on as little as one-quarter acre.
Co-leaders of the West Michigan chapter are Alita Kelly, who is restoring a West Michigan apple orchard, and Takidia Jenkins-Smith, who grows vegetables in Grand Rapids.
The West Michigan chapter often collaborates with organizations that share a vision for a more racially inclusive, environmentally sustainable community. Partners include the Black women-led nonprofit group
Power to the People 616, which periodically hosts
Liberation Saturdays at Grand Rapids’ Garfield Park.
Addressing historic disparities
Black farmer land funds have emerged as important means to seek capital that do not replicate the discriminatory and predatory practices that have been driving Black farmers and land stewards off their land for over a century.
“We know there are more aspiring growers and farmers of color out there that we have not met yet,” Solidago says. “In West Michigan, we’ve needed to do public education to raise the public’s awareness of this issue.”
In Southeast Michigan, fundraising proceeded faster because more people seemed familiar with the concept of land reparations, she adds.
That region has two similar farmland funds: the
Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund, which started the movement in Michigan in 2020, and the
Washtenaw County Black Farmers Fund, which started in 2022.
The Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund was founded on Juneteenth 2020 by members of three urban farming organizations:
Detroit Black Community Food Security Network,
Keep Growing Detroit, and
Oakland Avenue Urban Farm. The coalition's goal as community rooted institutions, are to lead the charge transforming Detroit's food apartheid into a vibrant food sovereign ecosystem, according to its
website.
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Four years ago, the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund helped 30 new Black farmers purchase vacant land in Detroit. In 2021, more than $50,000 was raised to support an additional 40 Black farmers’ efforts to purchase land and make capital improvements, according to the
organization’s website.
The Washtenaw County chapter raised $100,000 for its first round of grants. Those awards went towards equipment purchases, developing farm infrastructure, operating costs, mini-grants, and capacity building for farmers in Washtenaw, Wayne and Ingham counties.
“Michigan is a very unique space within the food landscape in America. We have three land funds to support a Black and brown ecosystem of agriculture producers throughout the state,” says Keesa V. Johnson, a food systems design specialist at
Michigan State University’s Center for Regional Food Systems. Johnson, who has a master’s degree in design studies, also is a co-founder of the Washtenaw County Black Farmers Fund. “Food is all about joy and healthy well-being. When a community produces its own food, it builds pride and self-determination that yields ecological benefits as well as economic.”
Johnson also is a co-lead with the
Michigan Local Food Council Network alongside Liz Genzler, Kolia Souza, and Jordan Lindsey. They support policy advocacy efforts, capacity building, and food systems leadership development with local food policy councils and statewide food/health networks and associations.
Building local food systems
“My role is to develop and implement strategies to support equitable local food systems and agricultural initiatives. I use African indigenous strategies that amplify community solutions and galvanize around their visions for the future which are often left out of institutional decision making,” says Johnson. “The Michigan Local Food Council Network advocates for policies that promote sustainable farming practices and ready access to nutritious, socially just, locally grown food. The councils facilitate collaboration between the people who grow food, distribute food, local municipalities, institutions, and the buying public.
“We also run learning cohorts, coaching groups, legislator education days, shared gifting grants, and racial equity workgroups to enhance community action around agriculture and moving from food access to food sovereignty. We support local action through the use of the Michigan Good Food Charter which is our blueprint for a unified statewide food policy voice.”
Johnson recalls learning that the United States never has had a just and equitable food system. As a graduate student, she did her research at the University of Michigan campus farm, where she was the first DEI manager, a role created in partnership with
Dorceta Taylor, a world-renowned environmentalist, and
Jeremy Moghtader, the U-M campus farm program manager.
“I learned about ecological economics and the importance of how food production affects our community well-being and the environment,” Johnson says.
Johnson says some Michigan residents have experienced “food apartheid,” which describes what happened when decades of “industrial farming” allowed huge, government-subsidized growers to sell cheaper than small local farms, driving many out of business. It also describes what happens when local zoning policies favor corporations, she says.
As a result, she says, high-quality foods are not distributed equally, and people marginalized by race, income, or location have not had dependable access to nutritious food. The farmers’ funds were developed to create a new ecosystem where Black and brown farmers thrive.
Photos are courtesy of Keesa V. Johnson and Kristin Zuller.
This story is part of a series that explores access, equity, and sustainability through Good Food in Michigan’s thriving food economy. This work is made possible by Michigan Good Food and is supported by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.