Over a single century, our relationship to food has come to favor convenience over connection. In 1920, about one-quarter of working Americans were in agriculture. Now farmers only make up around 1% of the workforce. This shift away from agrarian life has had benefits, but it’s also come with some losses. We’ve forgotten the work that goes into tending to the land and harvesting the food that ends up on our dinner tables. For some communities, this loss has been intentional.
Over the last several decades, Black farmers have been losing access to precious farmland due to discriminatory practices stretching back to slavery. As of 2022, Black-owned farms account for less than 1% of U.S. farmland. It’s a long-term problem that calls for a long-range solution.
In the Hudson Valley, that effort has taken shape in the growing ranks of Black farmers and activists diversifying the field. The new crop stands on the shoulders of giants like Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm and Karen Washington of Rise & Root Farm. If you listen to their perspectives, a common thread emerges: Fixing our food system will require everyone, producers and consumers alike.
Here, seven Black farmers and advocates now making a difference in the Hudson Valley speak out on what it would take to create a more equitable food system for all.
Kat Lopez
Farmer & Owner, Sovereign Herbs
Active Since: 2023

Outside of selling some of their produce at local markets, Lopez diverts a chunk of each harvest to different mutual aid and food sovereignty programs in the Hudson Valley region. The half-acre farm’s produce can be found free of charge or by paying what you can at organizations like the Kingston Farmers Market, Multicultural BRIDGE, and more.
What have you seen change for Black farmers?
“Even just in the time that I’ve been here — under 10 years — I’ve seen a huge shift. I feel like it was like me and a couple of friends that I knew about. [Now] there’s a deeper network that’s starting to emerge. Everyone knows Soul Fire Farm, and now there’s people like Isa [Jamira from Liberated Lands] that we’re meeting and Sweet Freedom Farm and Reclamation Herb Farm and Abundance Farm. It feels really special to be in this time of emerging Black farmers in the Hudson Valley.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“There are numerous ways that you can support Black farmers, whether it’s making donations, showing up to a volunteer day, becoming a regular supporter, or supporting someone’s CSA (community-supported agriculture). A lot of folks are looking for land or resources like infrastructure or equipment.”
Nadia and Omowale Adewale
Co-Founders, Liberation Farm
Active Since: 2021

Husband and wife duo and co-founders Nadia and Omowale Adewale advocate for both veganism and Black farmers in New York State and beyond. On top of producing fruits and veggies, their farm in Chester also hosts workshops and events.
What have you seen change for Black farmers?
“We’re at the table with other folks. There’s a Black agriculturalist conference that’s coming [this] year [in March 2025] in New York State. I believe it’s the first of its kind. I think that’s a wonderful thing, but there’s still a lot of things that we have to work on.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“I think [we should institutionalize] education the same way we’ve institutionalized selling products and services; how we respect local ecologies, learning and understanding more. If we don’t think about this globally and act on these things locally, I think we’ll have a lot of problems coming.”
Briana Gary
Conservation Pathways Coordinator, Kingston YMCA Farm Project
Active Since: 2017

For Gary, the Kingston YMCA Farm Project is an important educational resource as well as a neighborhood food source. Gary’s first time doing anything farm-related was in high school when she joined the project in 2017. Her labor (and that of her colleagues) has since paid off. In 2024, they grew 5,400 pounds of produce for the surrounding community.
What do we lose out on when we don’t have Black farmers in the mix?
“[When] people get into growing their own food, not only is it good for mental health and just a really cool hobby, but it’s also great for understanding nutrition. [That’s] a pretty big deal, especially in America. A lot of our foods have lots of sugar, lots of sodium, and lots of other ingredients. A lot of people struggle with health and obesity. Understanding nutrition and making that connection to healthy foods and whole foods would do numbers on people’s health, especially in the Black community, where we do have high rates of heart disease and high blood pressure and obesity, especially in lower-income neighborhoods.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“I would definitely say shopping locally, supporting small farms, and visiting the Kingston YMCA Farm Project. Set up a tour. If you’re a teacher, get your students on the farms to learn about what we do.”
Christine Hutchinson
Executive Director, Our Core; Board Member, Black Farmers United NYS
Active Since: 2017

Hutchinson started her agricultural journey through a simple personal mission: to have her own homegrown supply of eggs and meat. Ever since then, she’s blended her work as Newburgh public school teacher with hands-on work organizing, gardening, and even poultry farming at one point.
What have you seen change for Black farmers?
“One change is the number of Black farmers. When I started doing this work, there were 139 Black farmers in New York State, according to the USDA census, and now there are 159. When you’re talking about a number that is as insignificant as 139 out of many thousands, it’s a big difference. I also did not have any community when I was actively farming. I had no people of color at all to turn to. And that’s not the case anymore. There are a lot of Black farmers and Black aspiring farmers who are able to know each other. When I was raising poultry, people used it as a way of questioning my identity, meaning, ‘Black people don’t do this, so she’s not really Black.’
And this came from all kinds of people. Now there’s not as much of a pushback. People are coming to understand that Black farmers do exist.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“Question what everybody is doing at every stage in the food system, whether it’s the farmer you’re buying from or if there’s a restaurant that is buying from farms. On an institutional level, if you work in a school or a hospital or a prison and you’re buying produce, talk to the people who are doing that buying and see what they’re doing to try to support Black farmers. Understand what some of the major struggles are as those come on the radar politically. Know where you stand and voice where you stand. There are constantly different efforts being made on a state and federal level, sometimes even on local levels, where hearing the voice of constituents can make the difference if something happens or not.”
KC and Jeff Lovell
Owners & Principal Growers, Four Wall Farm
Active Since: 2020

Mushroom farms of any size in the U.S. are a rarity. Black-owned mushroom farms? Even rarer. KC and Jeff Lovell are changing that and the perception of fungi in the Black community. Four Wall Farm promotes the health benefits of incorporating mushrooms into your diet through recipes, teas, smoothies, and other dried goods – all derived from fungi.
What do we lose out on when we don’t have Black farmers in the mix?
“We run into a very interesting challenge being gourmet mushroom growers. In the Black community, there is a lot of prejudice against mushrooms, [but] it’s not just Black Americans on that. There were laws passed making it illegal to forage mushrooms, so there was propaganda talking about how mushrooms were poisonous and would kill you if you ate the wrong ones. The thing is that mushrooms actually have a very unique nutritional profile which is very much needed if you actually consider the historically [high levels of] cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and all that stuff.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“Shop at your local farmers market. Go to farmers’ markets that aren’t necessarily entirely local, but go to markets in different destinations. It’s a great family thing. Farmers love talking about what they grow. I’ll go up to one of the other farmers at the farmers’ market and ask them about this vegetable that I’ve never seen and what can you do with it, and it becomes a food adventure.”
Kendra Payne
Founder, The Herbal Scoop
Active Since: 2019

After dealing with health issues throughout her life, Payne sought out alternative means of healing herself. She was able to reclaim her own health by rediscovering the traditional herbal medicine and treatments used by the Black community and other groups for centuries. Now she’s sharing that knowledge at The Herbal Scoop, her online shop and storefront in Narrowsburg stocked with extracts and essentials.
What do we lose out on when we don’t have Black growers in the mix?
“I feel like in the herbal world, Black contributions have been erased. Our ancestors went into the bush and they grabbed leaves, they grabbed plants, they grabbed roots in order to heal themselves or heal their family members or their communities. And yet now in modern day culture, things that have gone through a lab are now seen as more credible, when we’ve held onto this information for generations and have used it to heal ourselves. There’s wonderful books from grandmothers and aunties and [other] Black people who have been using these plants forever. [Recently] we’ve gotten these messages that this plant isn’t going to help us and what’s on the shelf at CVS will, and I think that’s where we lose out. These plants are wildly powerful, and they can do a lot for us.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“On an individual basis, I think just creating your own small garden. You don’t have to grow in the ground to have a garden. You can use containers. There’s all sorts of innovative ways to grow something, whether it’s a balcony or whatever. But I think having that first experience of having a tomato off the vine versus a tomato at a big-box store unlocks something. It shows you the power of being able to grow your own food in the capacity that you’re able to. Not everyone can farm, not everybody wants to, and not everybody has land access in that way. I also think another thing is what we’ve gotten away from is finding true community.”
Monti Lawson
Founder, Catalyst Collaborative Farm; Farmer-in-Residence, WILDSEED Community Farm & Healing Village
Active Since: 2023

After working on urban farms and gardens in NYC, Lawson came upstate to continue getting more Black and queer people of color involved in all aspects of agriculture. WILDSEED gives their chosen growers a quarter acre of garden space and other resources to get their harvest going, free of charge. Lawson is thriving at his position at WILDSEED — Catalyst Collaborative Farm is being incubated there, with 2.8 acres set aside in Millerton for Lawson to work on.
What have you seen change for Black farmers?
“After 2020, it was a very specific time when there was the racial reckoning paired with Covid exposing food insecurity in our community. There was a lot of money from foundations that were coming into farms. All of that funding is starting to dry up. I’m seeing other folks in our community scrambling. You find out right when you think that you’re applying for funding that the funding is not there anymore. It’s one of those things where it’s hard for me because it feels like the pot of money ran dry right as I was getting to scale and was thinking that I was going to be able to apply.”
What can we do to make the food system more equitable for all?
“I’ve been trying to give people opportunities, especially around the Farm Bill, to be like, ‘If you want to support the Black farmers in your life, here are some things to advocate for.’ There’s an example called the LASO Act. It would create a pool of money, $100 million, that would be able to fund beginner farmers of color. I kind of just try to stay in that framework of using your voice to create new pots of money that our farms are eligible for, but also to increase the accessibility in the current programs. For every dollar that you use to support a large organization, in the interest of equity, maybe you should donate a dollar to a smaller, Black and Brown-led or queer-led farming organization that’s proving that the people closest to the problem are the ones that have the solutions.”