Detroit based farming fund works to make sure Black farmers own their land

This year, the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund is hoping to help at least 40 more urban farmers purchase land in the city of Detroit.

By Jeddy Johnson
WXYZ
July 14, 2021

Excerpt:

According to Rushdan, many farmers struggle to navigate through the legal process of owning land. That’s because sometimes they don’t know whether to contact the city, the Detroit land Bank or another unknown entity.

That’s why Rushdan and her fellow partners are stepping in to help.

“We’re actually holding people’s hands through the process. Making sure that those gaps aren’t left unattended,” Rushdan said.

According to Rushdan, there is a large disparity amongst white farmers who’ve been able to purchase land and black farms who’ve purchased land.

“And we’re in an 85% black city so we wanted to make sure that inequity closed as soon as possible,” she said.

In just one year, The Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund has parented with 30 small urban farmers. Already helping eight purchase land while nineteen others are just waiting for approval.

“This is a process that I had no movement on for a couple of years, and now working through them, I’m moving,” urban farmer Brenda Foster Sharpe said.

Sharpe is a farmer at the foster patch community garden in Detroit. She currently owns twos lots but is hoping to purchase two more.

“We have created, really, a safe space. People come by our block just to see our garden,” Sharpe said. “I remember when nobody wanted to be back there. It was just overgrown and trashed out and it was really an eyesore.”

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