A promising fact is that there are 250,000 millennial farmers actively contributing to an industry that employs over 24 million Americans.
It’s a Memphis Stroy
Uptown is a Memphis neighborhood that is rich in culture and histroy. In the last few years the neighborhood has experienced transformation with a public-private revitalization effort covering the one hundred block neighborhood. As I learned during a roundtable meeting of growers, educators, and advocates in the agriculture scene in Memphis, that is the neighborhood where Bobby and Derravia Rich openned their community garden to the public last month.
Black Seeds Urban Farm was opened in partnership with the City of Memphis’ Community Redevelopment Agency that works to combat blight in the city. As Derravia explained to me, the farm started as a passion for gardening that both her and Bobby had growing up. The Rich family now lives in a home that has been in the family for generations where they continued tending to a garden that was started by Derravia’s grandfather.
The work the Rich family is doing is important for feeding people in the community and to rewrite the narrative of agriculture in the United States.
the stigma of black people not wanting to be outside when their ancestors were the experts on this. Bobby Rich
WHY THIS IS SIGNIFICANT
African Americans in general and young ones, in particular, have been staying away from making a living in the agriculture industry. That is understandable considering the industry’s dark past in which the ancestors were forced toil the land as slaves. The USDA finally admitted to discriminatory practices against black growers in lending and support, that point is important to make as I’m sure someone reading this will insist that it is all in the past and everything is ok. That is not necessarily true, and that is a reason why I find it encouraging when I speak with young black growers about their story and why they chose to pursue farming in spite of the history and current setbacks. Other reasons include the fact that there are many different opportunities, high-income potential, and decisions about the future of food and ag innovation that African Americans need to be a part of.
Bobby and Derravia’s story is exactly what we need to hear more of. Having started so early with the passion and initiative necessary, they are on track to building something significant in Uptown. They turned a childhood passion into something tangible using resources they already had access to.
I tend to get excited about certain things, and when I do, I assume someone else out there would get excited about the same thing as well. With that being said, I am a storyteller with all the necessary tools and desire to share these stories and hopefully, I can play a small part in changing the narrative or maybe give someone else just enough inspiration through these stories to believe their dream and achievable.
I hope you will be inspired by their story the way I am inspired as I continue to work on it. I hope to complete their video this fall, please check social media and this site for updates and the video.
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