FTER SCOOPING UP the James Beard award for Emerging Leadership in June 2024, Christa Barfield told the audience at the Lyric Opera of Chicago: “Agriculture is the culture.” These are words the founder of FarmerJawn lives by. Barfield started gardening in the backyard of her Philadelphia row home, growing herbs in a 24-square-foot greenhouse, before she built her agriculture business, which now includes a 128- acre farm that’s the largest Black woman–owned food producer in the country, and is currently transitioning to regenerative organic practices.
TRJ You’ve spoken before about the importance of representation in agriculture. What progress do you want to see as you look to the future of the industry? CB There are so many programs that exist currently to support agriculture. It’s more a matter of awareness. That’s the biggest issue. In the state of Pennsylvania alone, $132.5 billion in annual revenue is what we see from ag. Agriculture is a major industry across the United States and internationally, so we have to get away from this mindset that being a farmer is a pauper occupation, because it just is not. If everybody has to eat, and if everything that we eat and wear comes from a farmer, then it’s impossible for it not to be an occupation where you can take care of your family. With that in mind, it’s important that there’s access to the resources that are made available for farmers to succeed. That’s really where I want to see more of a heightened awareness of people who have an interest in agriculture, whether they’re Black, brown, white, urban, or rural. It’s really just understanding the resources and how to have access to them. That’s where I’m focusing my energy.
FarmerJawn is many things: the farm, which spans three counties in Pennsylvania; a farm shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania, less than an hour’s drive from Philly; and a community- based organization aimed at empowering underserved communities to get involved in regenerative organic food production, while supplying those living in food deserts with fresh produce. The business also has plans to open a “CornerJawn” — a reimagined corner store filled with healthy, organic food — in the Philly neighborhood of Kensington.
Through FarmerJawn, Barfield is creating meaningful change in the world of agriculture, fueled by her belief that “the food grown closest to us is the food that’s best for us.” The James Beard winner’s influence is also felt far beyond the Philadelphia region, as she serves on the board of directors at the Rodale Institute.
TRJ It’s true, many people forget that there’s a whole process that happens before our food even gets into the kitchen. Speaking of origin stories, how did FarmerJawn come about? CB I worked in healthcare for 10 years and ultimately it ended up being not healthy for me. The irony of walking into a healthcare facility every single day, not taking care of my own health, led me to be like, “Christa, enough is enough. Now it’s time for you to go on a different journey.” I had no idea what that journey was going to be, but I knew I needed to resign. In January 2018, I quit my job, turned 30, and got on a plane to Martinique. It was my first time traveling alone and outside the country. I got on that plane, and my life changed. At my first Airbnb, every morning, my host made me cups of tea using herbs that I watched him pick from his backyard. The second Airbnb I stayed in was owned by
In July 2024, Barfield sat down with The Rooted Journal to talk about her work with FarmerJawn, how urban farming can and should be done, and her plans to inspire more people to become farmers as a recipient of the USDA’s Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.
THE ROOTED JOURNAL We’re talking soon after your win at the 2024 James Beard Awards. Congratulations! What does it mean to you? CHRISTA BARFIELD The James Beard Awards don’t often speak to the origins of food, so for me it’s really a reminder for people that where food comes from matters. That’s always been a message of mine. You should know where your tomatoes come from. They taste different and better when you do. I really love that I get to be a reminder for people of just knowing where their food comes from, knowing that there’s a person who cares about how it was grown, and, even more so, about the nutrition of the item that these chefs are taking and creating something beautiful with. It’s a reminder that food is medicine and we need to care about the producers of not just the meals, but the ingredients as well.
Black farmers, and I was greeted with coconuts that they had just freshly picked and were making cocktails out of. These people were interacting with food that they grew, and that’s how you ate. If you didn’t grow your own food or have a hand in it or know your farmer, then you did not eat. That was a revelation for me. After I got home, I said, “I’m going to be a farmer.” A very good friend gifted me a little hobby greenhouse and I lived in a very tiny row home in Germantown, Philadelphia, so that took up about 30% of the backyard. I started with some egg cartons and soil, throwing seeds
in and watering. I just figured it out. I had no formal training. I never even grew a houseplant as a child, so this was all very new territory for me. But I was determined, and I decided that I was going to have a say in what my life looked like and take care of my own health in a much better way, even if it was just by having tea from herbs that I grew in my backyard. Ultimately, it turned into a lot more. That 24-square-foot greenhouse I started with has grown into 128 acres across three counties in Pennsylvania, making us the largest Black-owned food producer in the state.
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ISSUE 02
AGRICULTURE AS CULTURE
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