"North Carolina, like much of the South, has a long rich history of organizing to build power and make change. And much of this was led by young people, not much older than the youth represented here today. For example, in 1960, in the Greensboro, North Carolina sit-ins on the first day four youth refused to leave when they were not served because of the color of their skin. What you may NOT know is that the next day, more than twenty joined them. The third day over 60 Black students joined them and by the fourth day, more there were 300 protestors of all races and the next week, protests spread to several campuses across the South.

I say this to show you that what seems like small solutions can lead to profound impacts. That's the legacy that we are a part of. Today, in my community, I see multiple issues that many of my classmates and their families are living with...-young folks competing with adults for fast food jobs, farmers who don't sell enough fresh produce, communities who don't make enough to buy fresh produce, people of color losing farmland and the agricultural traditions they grew up with...this is another reason I got involved with SWARM. In SWARM we believe that youth empowerment means amplifying the voices of young people and organizing to make concrete positive changes for our community.

Our campaign to eliminate "pink slime" and get a salad bar in one of our school cafeterias shows how we, as young people, can be decision makers and be experts in our own realities. We recognized that for some of our classmates, our school lunch is the ONLY quality meal of the day. So, we decided that this meal has to be fresh and safe for us and that this should be a right that all students should have. This was important to me personally because I have always been inspired by young people who have left the norm to follow a path of justice. Like the Greensboro Four and thousands who joined their struggle through their sit-ins and civil disobedience, my campaign work with SWARM engaged other young people to be empowered to be decision-makers.

SWARM brings together the best of Southern rooted community organizing, green economies, environmental justice and job creation. I am so proud to be here representing SWARM because rural voices of color are so often left out of these conversations."

CEFS board members Jennifer MacDougall, Cheryl Queen and Michael Tiemann were in attendance. Recounting the evening, Mrs. Queen said, "Zion is a member and youth organizer of SWARM and he is passionate about rural youth of color organizing to change inequalities in the food system. His accomplishments and his remarks would have made all of you so proud and so humbled. Several other members of SWARM attended the dinner and they circulated and worked the room as if they do this every day! [SWARM facilitator and CEFS Community-Based Food Systems Outreach Coordinator] Shorlette Ammons deserves kudos and appreciation for the remarkable job she does in changing the food system and local economy at the grassroots level, developing youth, and allowing these young people to shine and succeed."

CEFS' Incubator Farm Project Cultivating

New Ideas, Beginnings

Interested in farming but don't know where to dig in, so to speak? You're not alone. Access to land has been identified as one of the top challenges facing new farmers in North Carolina. CEFS' Incubator Farm Project addresses this challenge by working with local communities to repurpose public land into incubator farms -- training grounds for new and aspiring farmers. Incubator farms offer new farmers affordable access to land, and sometimes infrastructure, while they refine their farming and marketing skills.

CEFS and local partners including non-profit organizations, municipalities, N.C. Cooperative Extension, and others are working to establish five new incubator farms in Onslow, Moore, New Hanover, Wayne, and Guilford Counties. The local partners provide land, the desire to support aspiring and beginning farmers in their communities, and the enthusiasm to move the project forward, and CEFS provides planning support and access to additional resources.

LINC's urban farm concept plan.

In Wilmington, New Hanover County, the project is a collaboration between Leading Into New Communities (LINC), Inc., and the Southeastern North Carolina Food Systems Project, Feast Down East. LINC is a non-profit organization that helps people find grounding, literally, as they transition out of incarceration. According to LINC, their urban farming initiative will "operate an urban farm, which provides healthy, high quality, safe and affordable food to residents and the greater New Hanover County community. The urban farm will provide immediate hands-on work for residents upon arrival. Residents will learn skills that can be transferred into entrepreneurial opportunities."  In August, LINC held a ribbon-cutting for their new residential facility and developed a concept site plan for their urban farm.

In Jacksonville, Onslow County, the project is a collaboration of Onslow County Farmers Market, N.C. Cooperative Extension, the Natural Resources Conservation Service and many other community partners. This incubator farm will build upon an existing gardening training program called Horticulture, Entrepreneur, Leadership, Program (HELP). They have developed a site plan, are working to improve the soil, and hope to have 3-7 participants starting on the incubator farm next summer.

In Goldsboro, Wayne County, community partnerships are developing and the discussion is moving forward about how best to proceed and who will lead the process.

Representatives from several Incubator Farm Project sites tour the Breeze Incubator Farm in Orange County.

In Moore County, the Town of Robbins is working with a number of community partners to define the type of incubator farm that would best suit their needs. There is interest in exploring alternative production methods for fruits and vegetables as well as enthusiasm for supporting the development of new dairy farms.

 

In Guilford County, a regional partnership is developing led by the Piedmont Conservation Council that includes the Guilford County Cooperative Extension, NC Agricultural & Technical State University, Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and Elon University. Pending land use approval by the Guilford County Commissioners, startup is forecast for 2014. Currently, 10 acres have been disked and cover crops will be planted this fall to begin the soil improvement process. 

 

Says Joanna Lelekacs, State Coordinator for the Farm Incubator Project, "the community focus of these projects is very inspiring! All these communities are raising the potential for multi-dimensional impacts of these incubator farms in their communities including, of course, the agri-entrepreneurial impacts, but also community development, health impacts, job creation, food security, sustainable local food systems, and more."

 

Click here for more information on CEFS' Incubator Farm Project.