In 1920, 14 percent
of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent
of farms are controlled by black people—a loss of over 14 million
acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm
management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is
predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color
disproportionately live in “food apartheid” neighborhoods and
suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land
and stolen labor and needs a redesign.
Farming While
Black is the first comprehensive “how to” guide for aspiring
African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists
and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical
contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture.
At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and
Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new
farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and
supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black
organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide
readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming,
from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the
chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers
and activists whose work informs the techniques described—from
whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology,
to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing
stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma
associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven
throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader
in the food justice movement.
The technical
information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to
intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book
provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for
granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and
contemporaries have always been leaders—and continue to lead—in the
sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for
all of us to listen.