According to the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, only 0.5% of New York farms are owned by Black or African-American farmers.
While there aren’t many Black and African-American farmers in Western New York or the entire state, some residents are trying to change that.
Buffalo Worm Works founder Myles Stubblefield says there’s been a positive reception since he ventured into agriculture a few years ago.
“I've actually had a lot of warm embrace based on that minority status that I have," he said. "At the same note, I think that the challenges that have come up against me when I do have to look at some competitors or situations, I think that I'm learning a lot of how to replicate what I see successful in the main culture, and then edit that and modify it to something that would suit me as a Black farmer.”
Rebekah Williams is co-founder of Food for the Spirit, a nonprofit organization that supports racial healing, ecological justice, and equitable food systems. She also works with a number of Black farmers throughout the state.
Discussing the history of Black farmers in Western New York can be difficult, since some people still associate it with the lasting effects of generational trauma from slavery and Jim Crow era policies, she said.
But Williams is starting to see more of an interest in farming among Western New York’s Black community.
“I'm not sure if we've gotten over that, like, I'm not sure if everybody has, you know, come around and now feels like farming is not like slavery, right?" she said. "I can't answer that for everybody, but I do think that we are seeing a lot of people understanding there's a power in being able to grow your own food and being able to take that into your own hands.”
There is precedence for Black and African-American farmers playing a major role in the Western New York agricultural scene from as far back as the mid-1930s.
There is precedence for Black and African-American farmers playing a major role in the Western New York agricultural scene from as far back as the mid-1930s.
One notable farming family was that of Linwood and Florence Thornton.
Their achievements are preserved in the Big Springs Museum in Caledonia, New York. Among the accomplishments is a newspaper clipping and certificate naming the Thorntons’ son, William, the New York State Farmers Home Administration ‘1982 Farm Family of the Year’ for both Livingston and Monroe Counties.
Farming in Western New York communities of color has grown slowly since then, but that’s changing.
Buffalo Go Green Farming Operations Director Rickey Fleming notices increased community support during the urban farm outfit’s farmers markets.
But some of the most notable interest comes from students and young adults during farm tours, he said.
“We do a lot of farm tours with schools, anywhere from elementary school all up and through high school, some college courses or kids that come in, and some of them are very interested," he said. "We hope that we have that, that little bit of impact, that we can grab a few minds out of the pack of kids that come through here every year and hopefully, you know, we can keep that going.”
It’s normal to want to pass the craft to a new generation, even if it might be an ideological successor, rather than a familial one, Stubblefield said.
“I would love to tell every young Black kid that looks like me about worms. Reality of it is, majority of them won't care. The majority of them won't be motivated to get into it, because, again, farming industry isn't this booming idea of how to, you know, make the American Dream," he said. "But what I will do is capture those young, brown and black faces that look like me, capture all the other kids and all the other cultures, white, black, whatever they come from. And then we begin kind of more of, like you said, a generational figuratively together that compost their food that doesn't waste so much.”
But accessibility can be another limiting factor that prevents the feasibility of farming for members of the Black community.
Programs like Massachusetts Ave., for students, and Grassroots Gardens of Western New York for city residents, provide valuable options for education and potential land accessibility, Williams said. Having a varied approach is a must for there to be headway within the Black farming community, she said.
“That system needs to involve all the different aspects. It's gotta involve policy makers who are supporting the different things and helping to undo hurdles for people who are interested in getting into the field," she said. "It's gotta involve excited entrepreneurs who will, you know, start up these different organizations to provide support that meet the needs of people where they're at.”
One of the biggest challenges with farming, urban farming, or even gardening on a small scale, is that many families don’t have the luxury to plant healthy food, then wait for it to finish growing, Stubblefield said.
