This week on the FarmHouse, a podcast by Lancaster Farming, we welcome Christa Barfield, a Philadelphia-based produce farmer who owns FarmerJawn, the largest Black woman-owned regenerative organic produce farm in the U.S.
Barfield farms 128-acres in multiple locations in and around the city. The farm's focus is on five key areas: production, access, education, awareness and lifestyle.
"It really all connects," Barfield said. "It's about how we build a food system that makes sense for people."
Barfield, a Philadelphia native, took inspiration from the city in the farm's creation and name.
Jawn is Philly-area slang term that can be used in place of any noun.
"It was a love story first to my city," Barfield said. "And to that anybody can farm, because people that look like me typically aren't the farmers."
Barfield's experience working in the healthcare industry helped lead her to agriculture. She wanted people from urban communities to have better access to fresh, healthy food.
"This was really going to be a reincarnation of my healthcare career because of all the health disparities in our communities where food is scarce and food lacks nutrition," Barfield said. "And that is what I wanted to see changed and impacted."
One way Barfield is hoping to increase access to healthy food is through her soon-to-be opening CornerJawn, which is a play on the popular corner stores in cities.
The first CornerJawn is slated to open this summer in the Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, which Barfield said is the unhealthiest section of the city.
"No matter what walk of life you come from, you still deserve good, delicious food," Barfield said. "And we have it for you."
When it comes to unhealthiness in urban communities, Barfield said much of it boils down to a lack of education, which is something that FarmerJawn works to provide.
FarmerJawn has programs for students of all ages — from elementary school to college — held both on the farm and in the classroom.
These programs are hands-on in order to give students real agricultural experience and knowledge.
"A lot of people that live in urban communities never thought that they would put their hands in soil," Barfield said. "If you don't want to be a farmer, that's perfectly fine, but FarmerJawn is about people understanding that if you don't farm, at least you know who your farmer is."
A phrase that Barfield uses often in her work is "agriculture is the culture."
She uses this phrase to highlight that everyone has agriculture somewhere in their history, regardless of color or culture.
"Agriculture is a part of all of our backgrounds," Barfield said. "I think about how people don't understand that agriculture is responsible for not only what you eat, also for what you're drinking, and then also the houses that you live in and the clothes that you're wearing. 'Agriculture is the culture' is a reminder to folks that you could not operate in your daily lives without a farmer, and you should thank a farmer every single day."
