User:Yarukiis/Black Food Sovereignty Collective

Black Future Farms

Black Future Farms is a non-profit organization that is located in Brentwood-Darlington, Portland, Oregon. They serve as an influential organization that aims to help food insecurity and bring black people together through their farms. With the growth of food insecure inside Portland, they’ve become known for giving back to communities with fresh produce and farming skills. Owned by wife and husband, Mirabai Collins and Malcom Shabazz Hoover, they plan to create a stronger community and rebuild the relationship between black people and farming through various events and workshops. COVID-19 affected the access to food for many and resulted in the shutdown of large food industries and disrupted supply chains, leaving many people to resort to growing their own food. Black Future Farms aims to tackle this issue with fresh grown food.

Origin

Hoover grew up in a household full of farmers and became experienced in farming at a young age. In 2017, he moved to Portland, Oregon in order to work for Oregon Food Banks. With this occupation, he would soon become familiar with Shantae Johnson and Arthur Shavers, the owners of Mudbone Grown. These two people would become his mentor and would help gather his motivation towards farming. Eventually, he would attend Oregon State University and take up a Master Gardeners Course. Eventually, he would marry Mirabai Collins and they would start Black Future Farms together.

Goals

While Black Future Farms is doing important work in the community, they are not alone. There are other organizations in Portland that work to address food insecurity and support communities of color. The Equitable Giving Circle, for example, buys produce from farmers of color and donates it to communities of color that are food insecure. The Feed’em Freedom Foundation teaches farming skills to teens and low-income families, with incubator programs and donations of CSAs to the Black community. The Black Food Sovereignty Coalition provides mentorship from farmers of color, education in business management and farming, and support for small businesses. Black Future Farms is part of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition, a group of educators, community builders, advocates, and others who work to provide aid and support to Black communities in relation to their food and culture. One of the main goals of the coalition is to break the wealth barrier by providing access to land and resources, so that Black people can use the land to produce food to feed their communities. In addition to addressing food insecurity, Black Future Farms also aims to build community and provide a healthy space for Black people to gather and celebrate. They hold events called Black Sundays, where people can come together to farm, play music, and learn about growing crops. The farm also provides fresh produce to local farmers' markets and other community events.

Today's influence

Across the decades, the amount of black farmers and black own farms are rapidly declining so they aim to reconnect black people to the farms. Black Future Farms predated Black Lives Matter but has since then been fueled by the murder of George Floyd. Hoover aims to tackle the problem of systemic racism denying black people land and food sovereignty. They want to ensure everyone in their community has access to fresh food and help create more black owned farms. Malcom even states  “But if you're poor and you don't have access to resources or skills, then what are you gonna do?  So we teach people to grow food.” He wants to spread the power of farming and make people become less reliant on larger distribution companies.