DeepRoots CPS Farm, a Black-owned urban farm in northwest Charlotte, is expanding its growth with the help of a local organization. The Carolina Farms Fund, which purchased a $1.4 million property through an agricultural conservation easement, is now allowing DeepRoots CPS Farm to lease the land for four years. Additionally, DeepRoots owners Cherie and Wisdom Jzar have the option to buy the land, The Charlotte Observer reported.
Carolina Farms Fund board chairman Tim Belk said DeepRoots is the perfect partner for their organization.
“With their commitment to building trust and inclusivity, especially for new and beginning farmers who have faced challenges and inequities in gaining the support needed for business development and growth, Cherie and Wisdom are exactly the kind of partners we are looking for,” Belk said, per The Charlotte Observer.
Thanks to the new partnership, DeepRoots is now expanding to 44 acres. The farm will continue to house chickens, ducks, goats and beehives. There’s also a horse named Major living on the farm.
The American Farmland Trust reports that Mecklenburg County, where Charlotte is located, may lose nearly 20,000 acres of farmland in the next 20 years due to development. To fight against the concerning trend, Carolina Farms plans to preserve 5,000 acres within 75 miles of the region in the next decade. The organization aims to raise $17 million in private funding to achieve its goal. Belk said the organization has already raised $4 million since it launched nearly a year ago.
“As you think about Charlotte growing and developing, I’m really passionate about conserving green space in this region and doing it in a way that conserves the property as working farms,” Belk told The Charlotte Observer.
Carolina Farms Fund program director Aaron Newton said about 30% of Americans farmed for a living in 1950. That number has now decreased to less than 2%.
“There is a demand for folks who want access to land to start farm businesses, but don’t have that family access, or ownership to make permanent improvements,” Newton told The Observer. “That’s where we come in to help with that transition.”
The 2022 USDA Census of Agriculture report adds that 1.2% of farmers in the U.S. are Black. Newton said Carolina Farms is focused on making sure more Black Americans can have access to farming.
“We’re willing to work with everyone but we recognize that there are certain farming communities that have been underserved in the past and we would love to help with that,” Newton said, per the Charlotte Observer. “What we’re doing simultaneously is we’re permanently conserving farmland and we’re making farmland affordable to next-generation farmers.”
Before they opened DeepRoots CPS Farms, the Jzars were living on a quarter of an acre with their five children. Wisdom was the owner of a custom apparel business at that time while Cherie worked as an urban planner.
“We started as homesteaders wanting to grow food for our family and ballooned to producing enough that we could share with our neighbors,” Cherie said.
Although they secured five plots for their farm when they opened DeepRoots, the Jzars lost some of their land due to development. Now, partnering with Carolina Farms, the family looks forward to adding many more features to their farm.
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