A Black-Led Agricultural Community Takes Shape in Maryland
December 04, 2024 | Source: Civil Eats | by Lisa Held
Since 2012, Gail Taylor has built healthy soil, provided hundreds of local families with fresh tomatoes and turnips, and fostered community on less than an acre at Three Part Harmony Farm in northeast Washington, D.C. Along the way, she’s blazed a trail and spearheaded legislation to enable other urban farmers in D.C. to follow.
And she’s done it all with a sense that—at any moment—it could all be over. Because with farm leases that only cover up to three years at a time, the threat of the landlord selling out to a pricey condo developer has hung over every kale and garlic harvest.
Unfortunately, the scenario is a common one.
Surveys of young farmers running operations like hers have consistently found that farmers rank access to stable, affordable land as a top challenge. For Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color, it’s an even more formidable barrier. And access to capital is right up there alongside—and intimately tied to—land access.