Become a Certified Organic Grower

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Since 2021, we've been working with organizations and farmers to increase farmers who are certified, provide educational opportunities on the steps to get there, and offer community building support. The legacy of Black agriculturalists is a commitment to maintain the health, integrity and fertility of the land. During  our journey, we learned through agricultural stories that much of the growing traditions of Black farmers was that many of the growers used no chemicals, no pesticides, non-invasive equipment, no till and other methods that would be called, “organic” and climate-friendly in today's agribusiness. 

However, these growers rarely, if at all, used the term  “organic”. They described their harvests and animal husbandry as  tradition, the old way, heritage crops, the "natural way" or what their parents, grand-parents, and  ancestors taught them spanning back into pre-Civil War and even longer for those who ancestry is also rooted in Native nations.

So  committed to the land were Black agrarian societies to the environment that farmers in North Carolina protested against toxic soil being dumped  in their communities in 1982 that sparked what we call the environmental justice movement in the U.S. 

However,  we discovered that these growers using organic harvesting methods are largely absent from the organic industry and have yet to reap the rewards of their sacrifices. We found out that  these references to ecologically-smart farming had been hijacked and  remixed. 

Unfortunately, the average Black grower already has a fraught,  unstable, or non-existent relationship with the USDA, and its local  offices. But we know that if we cannot truly equalize agriculture, the  whole industry will be gravely impacted.

As  a result, a major part of our commitment is to ensure that Black  farmers have more representation as certified organic farmers.  Therefore, Black Farmers Index is one of dozens of organizations working to transition as many growers into the certified organic space. In particular, we assist growers of color.