Support Black Farmers to Sustain Generational Family Farms!

Browntown Farm and Moore’s Family Farm are two remarkable multi-generational Black-owned farms that sit on over 100 acres of land and have been part of their family legacies of stewarding the land since the early 1900s. Today, a mere 1.4% of 3.4 million farmers in the US are Black farmers, a number that has reduced staggeringly since the 1920s, when Black farmers comprised 14% of all farmers in the US. Because of discrimination and systemic racism, Black farmers own just 0.52% of US Farmland, with an overwhelming majority of US farmers and landowners being white.

While Browntown Farms and Moore’s Family Farm work hard to maintain their family farms on ancestral land, they are struggling to compete with larger farmers. They need a cash investment from the community to scale up their operations, transport their produce to market, and build necessary infrastructures.

As farms rooted in their respective communities, they provide access to fresh food, support other local, marginalized farmers, and make farming accessible by teaching the next generation of farmers. The goal of this fundraiser is to generate $20,000 to support these two Black-led family farms in the Mid-Atlantic.

Map of Distribution Areas of Browntown Farms (blue) and Moore’s Family Farm (purple)

Moore’s Family Farm, a founding member of the Down East Fresh Cooperative, is a 3rd generation farm sustained by the Moore family on over 100 acres of land. Kelton Moore, the heart and soul of Moore’s Family Farm, cultivates a large variety of vegetables alongside his brother, Eddie, his wife Vero, and their three sons, Eugene, Kelton, and Stephon. In 1989, they revived their ancestral farm that had primarily grown cash crops, such as tobacco and soy beans. Since then, the farm has been an integral part of their community’s fresh food ecosystem, as they sell at their local farmers markets, and support other local farmers. As part of the Down East Fresh Co-Op, Moore’s Family Farm is deeply invested in the success of other Black farmers in their community. The Down East Fresh Co-Op is composed of 12 Black farmers over a 75 mile radius, in three different counties on the Eastern Shore of North Carolina. They support each other in buying and sharing equipment, mentoring and training young farmers, and selling their produce together to compete with larger farms.

Kelton Moore farming at the Moore's Family Farm.

Browntown Farm is sustained by the father-son duo, Herbert Brown Sr. and Herb Brown Jr., who steward the land that has been in their family for 114 years. Originally used to grow tobacco, the farm sat idle for 15 years before Herbert Sr. and Herb Jr. rehabilitated it as a berry and vegetable farm. Browntown Farms is also known for the delicious berry jams made from the berries grown on their farm. The farm is a pillar of support for their community, empowering young farmers, employing community members, and working alongside other small farmers so that they can learn and grow together. The family dreams of expanding their operations to not only sustain their farm, but also support other farmers by providing a space for food aggregation and produce washing and storage, and starting a produce delivery service to increase fresh food access.

Herbert Brown Sr. (left) and Herb Brown Jr. (right) preparing strawberries.

The funds generated through this campaign will be split evenly between the farmers. They will be used for a variety of projects to support the farms to be self-sustaining, including:

the purchase of equipment for transporting produce
converting a high tunnel to a greenhouse
creating food-washing stations

The work of both of these farms is woven deeply into their communities’ food landscapes. Thus, the funds will not only support the individual farms, but also their community food ecosystems, including empowering other small farmers in their communities, teaching the next generation of farmers, and enhancing community access to fresh produce. Small family farms such as these provide access to culturally relevant foods and are the future of our food system. They represent what is necessary to make food sovereignty a reality.

The fundraiser organizers:

Nam and Edith are the main organizers of this fundraiser. As aspiring farmers and food sovereignty organizers based in Piscataway lands (Baltimore, Maryland), they had the honor of working closely with both Browntown Farms and Moore’s Family Farms. This work is meaningful to Nam and Edith because they strongly believe that cultural foods that are locally farmed should be more accessible, especially for Black and Indigenous people.

Namita (NUH-mee-thah), or Nam, is a South Asian-American organizer, plant lover, animal caretaker, and artist. They are passionate about racial justice, food sovereignty, prison abolition, ending caste apartheid, environmental and gender justice, and animal protection. Nam enjoys farming, caring for and spending time with non-human animals, making pottery, and exploring community-rooted food co-ops.

Edith is a Mexican-American cultural organizer, aspiring farmer, and creative. They come from a legacy of farmers and stewards of the land. For generations, their ancestors have cultivated flowers, practiced seed keeping, and held earth-based spiritual modalities, like curanderismo and herbalism. They are passionate about reconnecting with ancestral practices, such as community food sovereignty, collective liberation, and seed keeping and seed rematriation. They are also a muralist known as Siembra Arte, and their art can be found in public spaces in DC, Philly, and Baltimore.

By raising funds to support the expansion of Browntown Farms and Moore’s Family Farm, Nam and Edith hope to bridge some of the gaps to make it possible for local Baltimore and DMV (DC-Maryland-Virginia) based community organizations, urban farms, and businesses to collaborate with and consistently purchase produce from these farms.

Support Black Farmers to Sustain Generational Family Farms!

By Latino Glbt History Project

Support Black Farmers to Sustain Generational Family Farms!

The goal of this fundraiser is to generate $20,000 to support Browntown Farms and Moore’s Family Farm -- two Black led family farms in the Mid-Atlantic.