BIPOC Cooperative Farming Intentional Community

The Quarter-Acre for the People (QAP), a project of Khuba International, was created to enable more BIPOC and poor families in our region of Central New York to access adequate agricultural training, secure land tenure for purposes of food and medicine production, and new farm business development for long-term fiscal and market accessibility and longevity, foster a cultural shift away from individualist and extractive agricultural practices, and build strong webs of affinity among BIPOC and poor farmers in the region and beyond, many of whom struggle to gain a foothold in farming due to lack of representation and necessary resources.

We invest in the success of people who are new to farming and land stewardship and those who have been farming for years and stand to benefit from the support of agrarian communities.

Currently, we are working with five households on building a cooperative farming intentional community on a 14-acre parcel of land in Danby, a municipality of Ithaca, NY, which they will co-own and steward together.  This community is looking to build five homes, a bridge over their large creek to access the land from the road by car, and farm infrastructure to build their ag businesses and homestead.  Your donation would support this infrastructure build.

Anticipated outcomes are:

New produce and products are sold at local co-ops and grocery outlets. New farms add more food and products to a diversified regional marketplace. Local farmers markets will experience a greater diversity of farmers and support more inclusivity for broader communities. Viability of BIPOC farm business development increases in our region because of a strong BIPOC network that supports business and personal/mental health challenges. BIPOC network members will be supported in experiencing a sense of belonging, desire to grow together and feel more likely to succeed because of the network. Knowledge building cultivates a well-connected farmer network of all experience levels that knows one another intimately as colleagues and friends and supports each other to navigate the ag industry. BIPOC farmers will feel connected to and supported by a network of other farmers with comparable lived experience, values and goals, improving mental health by managing rural farm stress via community-oriented coping strategies via collaborative and shared labor methodologies. Improvement in community health for BIPOC via outdoor access, sustainable dwelling and access to nutritious food. Participants will increase nutrition understanding and ability to grow and cook with natural ingredients and fresh produce creating long-term health. Increased food security and empowerment in creating more diverse and equitable food systems for poor and BIPOC and community members through dignity-affirming means of access to fresh, healthy, local foods. These inclusive and innovative solutions to community food system challenges speak to a growing movement of BIPOC back to land trajectory both in and outside of farming.