How we Support Farmers
Since 2006, SAAFON has been an organizing space for farmers, advocating for shifts in the food system, and uplifting Black farmer voices across the sustainable and organic farming landscape.
We continue to support our members in these ways – by cultivating intimacy and connection through the spaces we hold, moving resources to the field, and propagating Black agrarian values in our land stewardship and farm practices.
Services We Provide To Farmers
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Connecting to other farmers through in-person/virtual state and regional assemblies and gatherings
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Technical support around the adoption and practice of ecologically sustainable production methods
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On-farm learning opportunities through field days, trainings, and farmer brigades
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Grants to support infrastructure development, educational experiences, and emergency
“I want to be a part of something positive, to share, to move us all forward. I want to shift energy from folks being takers from the world, to us being givers and receivers. I feel like I have a lot of powerful things to offer the network, and want to share that with folks.”
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Hear From Our Farmers
“Something I’m reconnecting to is needing more care, some patience, and softness. Needing elders to be trusting of a young person in farming. I’m here to farm. I’m here to learn. I’m here to learn what that looks like not only for me, but the community around me and to share it as well. In some ways, we all got ways to grow and what does that look like in creating relationships with each other, to create an intergenerational relationship?”
KD Randle, Kosciusko, MS
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Hear From Our Farmers
“Having experienced participating in the farmer brigades is nothing short of powerful. Folks coming and putting the shoulders to the wheel helping to do the whole fencing piece was one of my favorite memories of the whole year. Seeing that happen and the momentum we gained from that effort was such that it was easy afterwards because that work took us way down the road. It was like we were coasting downhill, afterwards. Before it seemed as if we were pushing uphill. I think it was the energy generated from folks coming together and being a part of it… If you were to ask me last year, I would have been a lot less clear about it, but this year in view of these experiences I can say that it is definitely a pathway forward that has to be a major part of any strategies that we have for going forward.”
Baba Bernard Obie, Roxboro, NC
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Hear From Our Farmers
On the importance of working with youth: “To learn life skills including building, fishing, canning, how to cook and harvest their food. And of course, ongoing cooking classes. All your entrepreneurial skills – leadership skills, character development, marketing. It’s like a total package to educate a child to be self-sufficient, and the importance of it. We give the history of why you’re on this land, the purpose of you being on the land, and what you can gain from the land. It’s legacy that you’re passing on – that you want to pass on to the next generation.”
Mama Sara Reynolds Green
St. Helena Island, SC -
Hear From Our Farmers
“When I was away I felt disconnected. The minute I moved back home I became connected. There’s someone in every family where there is land that an ancestor has loved. That person comes back to continue taking care of the land.”
Earcine Evans, Pickens, MS
Join Our Network
Join a network of farmers across the Southeast and U.S. Virgin Islands with a vested interest in your success. Working collectively with other farmers to accomplish your farm goals, exchange knowledge, develop your skills, and deepen our fellowship with each other are some of the most valuable aspects of engaging with SAAFON’s network.
Learn More About Membership