It is with both deep sorrow and boundless gratitude that we remember our dear co-founder and friend to all farmers, Dr. Owusu Atiba Bandele. On Saturday, June 13, 2026, Dr. Bandele – affectionately called “Baba Owusu” across our region – became an ancestor after several years of personal and family care during his declining health. Baba Owusu was slated to join SAAFON’s first-ever, in person General Membership Assembly this past March, with farmers he had mentored and supported for many years since he and co-founder Cynthia Hayes established this regional agricultural and agrarian communal space for farmers pursuing and embodying organic farming.
At the 20th anniversary celebration dinner, farmers from as far away as St. Croix, U.S Virgin Islands, and legacy SAAFON members who provided the base of network’s first members, farmer organizers and community educators, appreciated Baba Owusu’s legacy by singing his rewrite of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “My Favorite Things,” crooned lovingly by his dear friend and celebrated songstress, Mrs. Sandra Simone, owner and operator of Huckleberry Hills Farms in Alpine, Alabama.
SAAFON’s inaugural presentation of “The Baba Owusu Award for Agricultural Excellence” was given to third generation farmers Loretta and Samuel Adderson of Adderson’s Fresh Produce in Keysville, Georgia, at the Membership Assembly dinner in the presence of their grandson, Myles, a young and beginning farmer who has committed to carrying on his grandparents’ legacy.
I remember spending time with Baba Owusu during the Agroecology Encounter at Mr. [Jesse] Buie’s farm [Ole Brook Organics]. I was so grateful for Baba Owusu to be there and see what the network was becoming, as the organization began to be stewarded by younger people, said Alsie Parks, Co-Executive Director. He seemed to appreciate seeing the evidence of how much we cared about farmers, and evidence of the care we were taking to continue building together what he started.
SAAFON staff members, who now support the institutional integrity of Ma Cynthia and Baba Owusu’s investments in agricultural communities across the U.S. South – took time upon hearing about Dr. Bandele’s transition to reflect on things that they appreciated about him, particularly celebrating his infectious love of jazz, his vigorous proselytization of new jazz converts, and his giddiness at being at a grand opening with jazz artists from the 1950s.
FOLLOWING DR. BANDELE HOME
Family members and friends from across the country traveled to Southern University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge to honor Dr. Owusu Bandele on June 26, 2026, as a “beloved husband, father, grandfather, educator, historian, farmer, mentor, and community leader whose legacy continues to grow through the countless lives he touched.” Interwoven throughout the celebration of Baba Owusu’s life were ethereal saxophonic renditions of jazz and gospel classics – offered by his jazz musician son Kafele – including “His Eye is On the Sparrow” and the traditional African American spiritual “Keep Your Hand on the Plow.” Those gathered to remember him were reminded that Dr. Owusu Atiba Bandele’s name signifies “one who clears the way” and “leads people home,” such that we would do well to ponder: “What pathway will we clear for others, in the way that Dr. Bandele has cleared a path for us?”
Family members cherished Baba Owusu’s care, quiet charisma, and power of persuasion to always do their best and never rest on our laurels – we can always improve and do better. Former students spoke with pride of their participation in one of Dr. Bandele’s most enduring contributions to the propagation of Black culture and Black history – the creation and organization of the Southern University Black History Quiz Bowl, which he launched in 1994. He and his wife Efuru also created Food For Thought in 1997, a demonstration organic farm in Baton Rouge that encouraged other small scale farmers to explore organics as a way to sustain themselves.
Southern agricultural colleagues, museum curators and preservers of agrarian culture, spiritual advisors, former classmates and lifelong mentees, spoke of Dr. Bandele’s scholarship as a student of Booker T. Whatley, his tenure as an influential professor at Southern University, and the deep commitment to advancing Black agrarian thought, food sovereignty, and cooperative economics as essential pillars of liberation.
The first certified organic farmer in Louisiana, growing on four acres, Dr. Bandele began working with colleague Cynthia Hayes to help build a regional and national platform that helped increase market viability for Black farmers using and transitioning to organic and sustainable practices. Through SAAFON, he advanced cooperative development, technical training, and land retention strategies while centering cultural reclamation and collective economic power.
Baba Owusu gave so much over his long and rich life – his scholarship, his passion and love for improvisation, the leadership qualities that not only helped put the “O” for “Organic” in SAAFON, but also contributed to creating a beautiful life with this wife Efuru, his children — Niambi, Kai, Chuma, Kafele and Chibale – and a host of grandchildren, relatives, colleagues, classmates and students. While our hearts are heavy and processing the deep sense of loss we feel individually and as a SAAFON community, we are deeply encouraged and grateful to clear the way for current and future farmers and agrarian culture keepers, continuing to build agrarian futures that lead our communities back home into right relationship with the land that has cared for us time immemorial. SAAFON sends love and light to Dr. Owusu Atiba Bandele, with gratitude for the love and light he has providedto light our way forward.
