Fannie Lou Hamer Farm Project

Fannie Lou Hamer Farm Project

Project Leads: Ameia Smith, Vivien Terrell, Melissa Charles

Sponsor: African American Student Development (AASD)

Project Theme: Food Justice & Sustainability; Habitat Restoration; Education, Behavior Change, & Outreach

2022 Application Submission

Project Description:

The Freedom Farm, based at the Oxford Tract Facility on campus, is a 1⁄4 acre of land being stewarded by Black students. The produce from the Farm currently supports the UC Berkeley Basic Needs Center, as well as East Bay based food distribution programs such as Berkeley Food Network and the People’s Grocery Program. The project leaders state that this grant supports the essential cost of maintained access to the land.

The Fannie Lou Hamer Black Resource Center Garden is a small plot of land at the Black Resource Center on campus (Hearst Field Annex). The Garden ecology is mostly drought-tolerant perennials, medicinal herbs, native trees, and is being visioned as a sanctuary space for Black students. AASD lost access to the Garden due to university construction in the Annex, losing crops, student installed art and landscaping projects, and their irrigation system. As such, the project leaders state they will dedicate a significant portion of this funding towards rebuilding the Garden and bringing life and art back into the space.

Goals of Project

  1. Increase access to land and food, especially for Black students
  2. Provide land-based education in topics such as regenerative agriculture, food systems, agroecology, and Black agrarian histories
  3. Promote connection between people and land through the creative and interdisciplinary community-building projects.