N.C. Black Farmers' Market provides hub for local farmers

Every Sunday, farmers, chefs and musicians gather at The Black Farmers' Market to buy and sell locally grown produce and fresh, handmade foods.

The Black Farmers' Market was founded in 2015 to create a community that supports Black farmers and to help people understand the importance of shopping locally, Moses Ochola, the market's co-founder, said.

"Over the past few decades, a lot of Black farmers have lost land that they've been cultivating for decades," he said. "And what we are trying to do is shed a light on that and support them financially but do community work as well." 

Ochola is also a co-founder of Black August in the Park, an organization that meets annually to inspire and connect people of the African diaspora and engage in social and cultural change.

A century ago, there were 950,000 Black farmers in the U.S. In 2019, there were only 45,000. 

"It's bigger than just the numbers of farmers disappearing or decreasing over 100 years, it's the fact that the land itself was stolen within those 100 years," Jameson Fuller, the produce manager at Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, said. "So that option became less likely because a lot of African Americans lost so much of their land, even my family included, unfortunately, here in Orange County."

He said that The Black Farmers' Market has been a hub for local farmers in the Black community and has provided them the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the local area. 

Ochola pointed to farms like Pine Knot Farms and 4M Farm as some of the market's largest producers.

One featured event the market hosts multiple times a year is Grazefully Rooted, a farm-to-table dinner that Ochola said is intended to connect people to farmers and chefs that participate in the market. 

The experience is also meant to be interactive and entertaining. He said that they use products from the market to create a themed menu to resonate with a larger audience.  

Adé Carrena and Samantha Kotey, the founders of Kayayo Collective, partnered with The Black Farmers' Market to create signature West African dishes in the initial launch of Grazefully Rooted in 2020.

Carrena, born in Benin and raised in Trumbull, Connecticut by a Puerto Rican mother, specializes in Neo-West African cuisine and has done several dinners with The Black Farmers' Market. 

"I've done so much work to reconnect to my roots to be the kind of chef I am today, which took a lot of work, it required a lot of healing for me to do that," Carrena said. 

Kotey, born and raised in Houston, Texas, is the daughter of Ghanaian parents and specializes in Ghanaian cuisine. 

Both Carrena and Kotey noticed the intersection between cultural cuisines. 

Kotey's food bridges the gaps between her West African heritage with her Southern upbringing, particularly reimagining West African cuisine.

"[S]ometimes it'll just be strictly West African or Ghanaian food, and other times I'll try to find creative ways to bring the two together — and create a dish that incorporates both West African and that southern, Houston, cuisine as well," she said.

"Food, to me, is a universal language," Carrena said. "You don't have to understand what's happening, but we know if it's good, and we know what's going on with it." 

Together at Grazefully Rooted, they made  Ghanian-Beninese dishes, such as fermented corn soup and a roasted beet salad with wagashi, a type of cheese made in both Benin and Ghana.

"My mission really is to bridge cultural gaps, to reintroduce West African food to the world and to create safe spaces for necessary conversation to spark healing across the diaspora and to also highlight and support local Black farmers," Carrena said.

The vision of The Black Farmers' Market has inspired others to become involved in the cause. Allanah Hines, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion manager for Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, said that supporting local farmers, like those at The Black Farmers’ Market, keeps money in the community.

Kotey said that the best way to support Black farmers is to shop locally, attend events like Grazefully Rooted, visit their farms and support local organizations pushing their mission.

The Black Farmers' Market occurs weekly from April 16 to Nov. 12 from 1-4 p.m. at Durham Technical Community College on the first and third Sundays of the month, and at the Southeast Raleigh YMCA on the second and fourth Sundays.

During October, the market is celebrating "HBCU Love Month," which recognizes historically Black colleges & universities. Ochiola said the market will be spotlighting local HBCUs each week, as well as holding a fish fry with different kinds of fish prepared by area chefs. 

To support the farmers' market as an association and nonprofit, visit their Instagram.

@graceogao

@dthlifestyle | lifestyle@dailytarheel.com