According to a 2012 USDA agriculture census, 8 percent of American farmers are minorities. Of the 8 percent, African-Americans total less than 3 percent of minority farmers. With only 33,000 Black farmers in the United States, the number is a fraction of that in Indiana.
Joyce Randolph is the co-founder of the Indiana Black Farmers Co-op and owner of Elephant Gardens. The goal of the group is to bring as many Black farmers in the state together as possible to build a strong network of people that share a common bond of farming and a desire to improve their communities.
“The co-op started when myself, Cheriee Hood (Three Sisters Garden) and Tysha Ahmad (Mother Love’s Garden) met at farmers markets selling our produce,” Randolph said. “We saw that there was very little representation of Black farmers in the area and we wanted to change that. We later added Mame Bousso (Touba Gardens) and DeAnthony Jemison (Legacy Farms) to the co-op after meeting them at farmers markets.”
Indiana Black Farmers Co-op is less than a year old but has made a lot of progress by working with each other to spread word of their gardens and giving each other gardening tips. The group sees the co-op as a way to work together for the greater good, choosing to complement each other.
“We never try to one up each other in the co-op,” Randolph said. “We communicate with each other on what one another is growing and what we are intending to sell at the market every month. If one person is growing tomatoes then someone else will grow peppers and we coordinate our produce in that way. Our goal is to help each other and our community, because when that happens we are all winners.”
Newer member DeAnthony Jemison agrees that teamwork makes the co-op work. Though his farm is in Lyles Station, Indiana, he still makes the trips to Indianapolis to work with the group.
“I have been traveling to Indianapolis the past three years selling my produce at farmers markets and I have recently joined the co-op and it has been a pleasure to be apart of,” said Jemison. “Everyone is welcoming and we do our best to help and educate the community on farming, healthy eating and how growing your own food can help self sustainability.”
Cheriee Hood, who runs Three Sisters Garden from the Lawrence Community Garden and has been with the group from the start, shares a similar idea on why the co-op came together and why it’s worked so far.
“I met some of the ladies in the co-op from the Good Food Connection of the Far Eastside and we became close from there,” Hood said. “My goal for farming was to help educate people in my area on the importance of healthy eating and how we can do a better job to eat heathier. If we all start growing our own food, the cost of organically grown food will come down which will help everyone involved.”
The Indiana Black Farmers Co-op hosts a farmers market at St. Andrew The Apostle Church, 4052 E. 38th St., once a month. This event is meant for the community to gather and learn more about the co-op and other things happening in the area. The next market will be 1-5 p.m. July 22.
Contact Dontre Graves at 317-762-7848.
