Black Farmer Fund (Loans, Grants, Royalty Financing)

Black Farmer Fund (Loans, Grants, Royalty Financing) is sponsored by Black Farmer Fund. The Black Farmer Fund offers various financing options, including loans, grants, and royalty financing, to Black farmers, herbalists, distributors, restaurateurs, caterers, composters, and other food-related businesses.

Fund 2. 0: Investment Committee FOOD, POWER, & INVESTMENT — The mission of Black Farmer Fund is to nurture black community wealth & health by investing in black agricultural systems in the Northeast. Building Community Wealth Through centering ancestral wisdom, we practice community-led decisions and reciprocity.

We're exploring what Community Wealth and Social Capital can mean for our communities. We believe that access to healthy, life-giving food and community connections are critical indicators of well-being. Together, with our community , we aspire to see a thriving and racially just Black agricultural ecosystem!

Watch the video above to hear directly from our community about how we’re building community wealth for Black Farmers, Food Business owners, and Black communities. We are all connected to the land— Even if that connection takes you a couple of generations back.

Black Farmer Fund was formed out of a series of conversations among Black farmers in the Northeast who were seeking capital that did not replicate the discriminatory and predatory lending practices that have been driving Black farmers and land stewards off of their land for over a century. Stewarding land may feel distant to some, but simply put, a land steward is someone who cares for the land.

Whether we are actively caring for the land, or not, we are all connected to it. We are distributing wealth into our communities to ensure that Black food business owners have access to capital Comprised of farmers, food entrepreneurs, and organizers from across the Northeast, with experience working towards a strong Black food system through their work are co-designing our investment process and making decisions together on BFF Fund 2.

0 investments BUSINESSES WORKING TOWARDS A STRONG BLACK FOOD SYSTEM Have so far been supported by Black Farmer Fund through a combination of gifts and low-interest loans How do we achieve our vision? We provide low-interest community notes and gifts to businesses that are strengthening the Black food system. To see the current investees click here.

Examples include but are not limited to: farmers, herbalists, restaurant owners, caterers, food distributors, and other food-related entrepreneurs across the Northeast. We emphasize building financial education and investment literacy and active involvement of the community when discussing and creating financing options.

This involves providing technical support beyond capital, as we recognize that funding is just one of many factors that keep Black food actors from being successful. To read our newsletter, click here. We build and collaborate with other mission aligned organizations across the Northeast.

This includes Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania). To check out our FAQ, click here. Click to learn about our goals Interdependence & Collaboration Translated to “Help me and let me help you,” this adinkra symbol was adapted to be our logo, as it represents interdependence and collaboration.

At BFF, we believe that to build Black community wealth and health — to transform the world for the better — we must work together. HELP ME AND LET ME HELP YOU 〰️ The idea to create Black Farmer Fund came from two Black farmer-activists, Karen Washington and Olivia Watkins, meeting at a conference in 2017 and sharing frustrations about the lack of financial assistance available for Black farmers.

They decided that there needed to be a means for community members to access capital that recognized the historical discrimination of lending and banking that informs the present reality of Black communities. FARMER, FOOD BUSINESS OWNER, or food system member? We are changing what investment looks like by centering relationships, decentralizing decision making and shifting power.

With these tools, we know we can build a more equitable future by investing in Black agricultural systems.