by Shawn Nowlin
It’s not every day that an informative event centered around Black farmers takes place in Roanoke. However, such an occasion happened on June 7 at commUNITY ARTSreach from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
During “Roots & Rhythms: A Celebration of Black Farmers and Food Traditions,” attendees had the unique opportunity to bring African-American-inspired dishes and share recipes with others, submit questions to panelists and participate in a film screening of a powerful documentary.
Rhythms of the Land, directed by Dr. Gail Myers, is “a valentine to generations of Black farmers in the United States from the enslavement period to the present, whose intense love of the land and dedication to community enabled them to survive against overwhelming odds.”
Said Myers in the documentary, “I have been researching Black farmers for years, and there are very few stories about their lives. With this film, they will finally have their say. I have captured over 30 stories of farmers, gardeners and sharecroppers.”
The Professional Agricultural Workers Conference at Tuskegee University, the Alaska Farmers Market Association, the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network and the Freedom Center at Ohio State University are just some of the places that’ve had a screening of the documentary.
According to the Virginia Farm Bureau, there are approximately 1,800 Black farmers throughout the Commonwealth. Peter Lewis (Apple Ridge Farm), Stephanie Miller (Mystic Pine Farm) and Cam Terry (Garden Variety Harvests) were the three panelists who shared their stories at the event.
Roots & Rhythm was presented in partnership with the Roanoke Foodshed Network, One Valley, Farms to Grow, Virginia Tech Center for Food Systems and Community Transformation, Garden Variety Harvests, Mystic Pine Farm, Apple Ridge Farm, commUITY ARTSreach and LEAP.
“The impact of our local Black farmers often goes unnoticed. People may have a surface-level understanding, but their contributions to the community go far beyond what one may think,” collaborating partner Bernadette “BJ” Lark said. “Black people have endured discrimination in the farming industry for generations. This event addressed that topic and so many others in an engaging, fun way.”
Among the biggest misconceptions about Black farmers is that they are the only racial group to have decreased over the last century. Per data from the Center for Public Integrity, “Scholars attribute the decline in Black farming and farmland ownership to allegations of systemic discrimination, among other factors.”
Last July, the National Black Farmers Association, spearheaded by President John Boyd Jr., won a $2.2 billion payout against the United States Department of Agriculture for discrimination in farm lending.
