Aashay Savla
Aash Farms, Washington
Aash Farms is a no-till, regenerative farm operating in Woodinville, Washington. Aash focuses mainly on two things – preserving the land and providing nutrient dense produce to the local community. Aash Farms serves seasonal vegetables, microgreens and mushrooms to local restaurant partners, farmers markets, and food access programs. Aash is accredited in sustainable agriculture through the Viva Farms Sustainable Agriculture Practicum Program. In addition to Aash’s no-till operation, he also has an aggregation program with a network of 9 sustainable farmers in Washington state. Finally, look out for Aash’s line of value-add dehydrated spices for your at home spice needs!
AB Banks
The People’s Farm, California
AB Banks is a West Oakland farmer who has delivered food to East Bay community members through work grounded in agro-ecology, wellness, and Black food autonomy. AB will use the funds to support their livelihood and buy supplies for the farm!
Adrian Bello
Mumbet’s Freedom Farm, Massachusetts
Adrian is a multifaceted artist, community gatherer, bridge builder, and learning farmer remembering what it is to live in right relationship with Mother Earth and community. She has been working on food sovereignty organizing for the last 4 years, which has finally lead her to make the move from the West Coast to the East to be closer to her Haudenosaunee homelands at Mumbet’s Freedom Farm. Mumbet’s Freedom Farm is a Black and Brown-led cooperative farm and community sanctuary situated in the ancestral homelands of the Mohican Nation, Sheffield, Massachusetts. Named after the revolutionary Elizabeth ‘Mumbet’ Freeman, an enslaved African nurse, midwife, and herbalist who successfully sued for her freedom, the farm serves as a space for connection, creativity, education, and wellness. Dedicated to sustainability and sanctuary, Mumbet’s Freedom Farm seeks to provide a home for Queer, Black, and Indigenous People of Color and all Earth’s beings. Adrian plans on using these funds to build a small A-frame that will welcome her to the these lands, enabling her to ground into this region and this work after spending many seasons nomadically. This structure will also serve as an offering to Mumbet’s Freedom Farm in their pursuit of providing sanctuary for BIPOC community.
Alé Lomanto
Waking Seeds, Pennsylvannia
Waking Seeds was started in 2023 by alé lomanto, with the intention of adapting and growing ancestral seeds from the Andean region. alé looks to growing these seeds as a way to work with themes around shared culture, assimilation, diaspora + the grief that trails closely behind. with the help from this grant, waking seeds will have it’s first catalog where these seeds will make their way into the hands of those looking to re/connect with their homelands. this catalog will also lend itself to growers so that they can continue to keep the seed stories and the high andes peoples connected to one another. waking seeds also hopes to use these funds to cover the costs associated with building a community seed library, hosting regular seed sharing gatherings, and providing neighbors with readers + zines on seed keeping.
Alicia McMorrow
Gauche Gardener, California
Ali started farming in 2016. They fell in love with the healing that comes from contributing to the local food system and collaboration with community. They have focused on weaving community to resources and educating with the intention to empower others to fight the food apartheid overtaking California, organizing local fundraisers, pushing for policy change, and hosting community-led projects. This money will be used to purchase seeds, tools, and resources for volunteers.
Alysia Leon
Bird Fork Farm, Tennessee
Bird Fork Farm (BFF) is a diverse woman, queer, and Latinx farmstead nestled on the Cumberland Plateau in rural Appalachia. Since 2020 the farm has provided Certified Naturally Grown produce, fruit, value-added products, herbs, and herbal concoctions to Middle and East Tennessee. BFF is currently a one-woman show, with the help of volunteers, that aims to provide high quality, farm-grown, small batch, slow-crafted, intentional herbal products to our community in the form of teas, tinctures, oxymels, bodycare products, herbs, and more, crafted entirely on-farm from our own CNG grown and/or ethically wildcrafted plants. This funding will be used to outfit an existing structure with an on-site commercial kitchen.
Andrew Larson
345 Farm, Montana
The idea of 345 Farm started six years ago, when I first met my wife Ellen. We planted our first vegetable garden together in some raised beds in our backyard because of our love of food and pursuing a more traditionally agrarian lifestyle. Four years ago, we were lucky enough to buy an old farm property in Evergreen, Montana. Since then, we have accomplished countless projects and our property now feels like a personal oasis filled with ever-expanding rows of vegetables, wandering sheep, singing birds, and crawling critters. We began to farm because we love to eat good food from the land, and we are continuing to farm because want to be able to share this with others. I specifically hope to be able to share my heritage of Mexican cuisine through education and ingredients to our community here in Montana. Currently, refrigeration space is a major bottleneck for our farming operation. This grant will put us nearly a year ahead in being able to afford a large refrigeration trailer, which will significantly cut down handling time and allow us to expand our vegetable growing space.
Ashanti Williams
The Black Yard Farm, New York
My name is Ashanti Williams, owner and operator of The Black Yard Farm. The Black Yard Farm is a Black-centered diversified farm, working on creating safe agricultural space for Black folks and people of color to learn about farming and experience rest and leisure in an agriculture setting. I am raising animals, growing vegetables, and developing a silvopasture operation in the woods. This grant funding will go towards the purchase of additional farmer housing, allowing me to be able to expand my team and the capacity for food production.
Asmara Pierre-Louis
Ujamaa Garden, New York
Ujamaa Garden is an experimental youth-centered learning space and community food garden co-founded by three young Bronx natives in their hometown the North Bronx, specifically the Caribbean neighborhood of Wakefield. We consider access to organic, local produce a necessary first step towards liberatory world-making. Ujamaa Garden is a safe space to imagine and experiment with practices of a more caring and free society. With the help of this grant we will increase our food growing capacity to support our distribution program, which supports moms from the local community with free harvest boxes.
Brenda González
Finca Seremos, New York
I am a co-founder of Finca Seremos, a food justice project farming in Beacon, New York. Finca Seremos provides nutrient-dense, organically-grown vegetables and herbs, flowers, fruit, and poultry products for farm share subscribers in Northern Manhattan and the Bronx with a wide range of household incomes—including people receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—who value fresh, local, and culturally-appropriate food. I bring my 15 years’ experience as an educator into our mission to organize our community through food. The Young Farmer Grant will support us in setting up crucial irrigation and pest management infrastructure in our first year.
Bryan Mesa
De La Mesa Farms LLC, Washington
De La Mesa Farms is a pioneering farm business that uses farming as a platform for environmental stewardship, education and mentoring, and community building in order to build more sustainable communities. The 2.5 acre farm is located in the urban setting of Tacoma, Washington and is a regenerative, no-till market garden that focuses on organic methods to improve soil health and soil biodiversity. In 2024, we hope to increase our capacity to serve our community year-round by investing in efficiency-building tools and infrastructure. As on any small farm, labor is our biggest expense, and by investing in tools to help our small, well-trained staff work more efficiently, we can significantly reduce our labor costs.
Ceci Pineda
Nos Cuidamos, Puerto Rico
Ceci Pineda (they/them) is a brown queer musician, ecosystem caretaker, and facilitator. Ceci sows seeds and songs for Tlalli (earth, land, and soil), our more-than-human relationships, community liberation, and dreaming of new relationships-based climate justice worlds. They dream of growing medicine and ancestral crops among queer, trans*, and BIPOC community. The Young Farmer Grant will support beginning a climatized seed bank and exploring different forms of medicine-making to make products accessible, while also making them economically sustainable for us to produce.
Cecil Norris
Healy Lane Farm, North Carolina
I am a teacher, artist, and farmer in Shelby, North Carolina. In 2017, I graduated from UNC Charlotte with a Bachelor of Arts in architecture and have taught art for the past 6 years. Healy Lane Farm is a small regenerative farm in Mooresboro, North Carolina. We are a mixed farm, raising chicken, turkey, and vegetables for the health of the land and community. The grant will expand our poultry operation by adding new infrastructure that will provide shelter during the processing and storing of the poultry. We also will upgrade old equipment and add new bed space.
Cheyenne Stone
KoapaNuu Farm, California
KoapaNuu is a small farm that raises chickens and has fruit trees and an annual garden that produces food for low-income families. The grant funding will be used to provide shelter and food storage for the chickens, which will help provide better food safety conditions and access to food supplies that will allow me to raise more chickens.
Claire Green
Avery's Green Acres, Maryland
Hi, I’m Farmer (Claire) Green, mother to Avery. I’m a New Orleans native and I love animals and herbs. Avery’s Green Acres has been growing fresh herbs and salad greens in Frederick County, Maryland since Spring 2023. Through regenerative farming practices, we grow the following crops: rosemary, lavender, mint, calendula, basil, lettuce, spinach, kale, and arugula. The Young Farmer Grant program offers a flexible financial boost to Avery’s Green Acres long term goals as a small herbal farm currently in its infancy years of business. This grant will help us purchase equipment for our growing and processing infrastructures necessary to expand. It will also assist in covering our operating costs, including seeds and compost.
Cyara Phillips
Tuba Farm, New Jersey
Tuba Farm is a small Black and female operated sustainable farm and garden center, established and cultivated with love and kindness. We created Tuba Farm Foundation, a 501(C)(3) nonprofit, to promote food sovereignty and reduce food insecurity and waste. Tuba was founded by Cyara, carrying on her family’s rich farming history. She has helped feed those in need for decades and has made it her mission to help reduce hunger with fresh and healthy whole foods she grows or gleans. This grant will go towards expanding the food forest and market garden at Tuba Farm in order to feed more people!
Daiyan Sattar
Krishok's Harvest LLC, New Jersey
Chipotle is proud to partner with the Young Farmer Grant Program to resource people like Diayan Sattar with direct and flexible grant funding. We’re honored to continue hearing the stories of people like Daiyan and the new generation of passionate farmers, ranchers, and land stewards.
Daniel Awuah
DMA Farms, Virginia
On my farm I am working to produce the foods I grew up with in West Africa. I hope to be able to supply these sometimes hard to find traditional ingredients, like goat meat, hot peppers, and okra, to my fellow immigrants. I also want to help others discover parts of their heritage or explore another culture through foods. I plan on using this grant to improve my goat pens, purchase some good breeding stock, and start raising poultry. I am also thinking about investing in some raised beds and a small poly tunnel greenhouse.
Daniel Chavez
Nacimiento Natural Products, New Mexico
Chipotle is proud to partner with the Young Farmer Grant Program to resource people like Daniel Chavez with direct and flexible grant funding. We’re honored to continue hearing the stories of people like Daniel and the new generation of passionate farmers, ranchers, and land stewards.
Dishaun Harris
Root Life, Connecticut
I am an urban farmer in New Haven, Connecticut with more than 13 years of experience growing food and educating community members on growing food for themselves. In 2018, I decided to start my own culturally relevant agriculture business that specifically targeted the Black and Brown communities in my city. I founded Root Life, LLC, which focuses on uplifting the community and empowerment through urban farming, urban farm training, food justice education, agri-tourism, food aid efforts, and community focused health events. I am stewarding and growing out of six different urban spaces in New Haven County this year. Those spaces include the Armory Community Garden, Big Starr Community Garden, 333 Valley St Farm, Hill Community Farm, Ferry Street Community Farm, and an indoor grow space at ConnCorp’s Lab Incubator Business Office. This funding will help scale up Root Life’s indoor Microgreen and Gourmet Mushroom production by helping to secure the resources needed for a successful transition to a larger operation.
Elyssa Eull
California Street Farm, Minnesota
California Street Farm is a queer woman-owned and operated urban farm in northeast Minneapolis, growing vegetables and flowers. We sell our products at a local market, farm stand, through a CSA, and to local restaurants. We plan to use this grant funding to hire a part-time farm hand/marketing manager and a market assistant!
Gonzalo Garcia Reyes
Lomita Farm, Oregon
Gonzalo is farmer from Oaxaca Mexico who strives to share and celebrate his Indigenous Zapotec agricultural legacy. His farm focuses on growing Latinx culturally significant foods and wholesale specialty cut flowers. This funding will enable him to expand his labor force.
Jen Finch
Wanderwood Farm, Washington
Wanderwood Farm is a small-scale, owner-operated, family farm dedicated to the principles of ecological sustainability and regenerative agriculture. Founded in 2016, the farm has grown to become a source of fresh, organic produce and specialty flowers. Rooted in the belief that the health of land, community, and farmers are fundamentally interconnected, we’re an ecologically focused operation committed to fostering a deeper understanding of regenerative agriculture within our communities. We plan to use the grant assistance from the National Young Farmers Coalition to build infrastructure, specifically a cooler at our new farming location.
Jose Pastran Duarte
Bedrock Farm, Vermont
My name is Exdoro Pastran Duarte (my friends call me “Jose”) and I am from Nicaragua, where I have a wife and son. About two years ago I moved to the USA to work on our dairy farm here in St. Albans, Vermont. We milk about 55 cows and we raise their babies. A few weeks ago there was a strong windstorm that blew two of the walls in our barn down. We will use this grant money to rebuild the ends of that barn to keep our animals safe and protected during the cold winter months.
Josephine Perez
Riverbird Farm, Washington
Josephine Perez is part of the first-generation farmer team at Riverbird Farm in Shelton, Washington. The farm produces pasture-raised poultry and serves local and regional customers in Washington state through CSA shares, farmers markets, restaurant wholesale, and more. Riverbird Farm will use these grant funds to offset the cost of the facility they use for poultry processing and packaging.
Juan Quinonez Zepeda
Cebadilla Ranch, Mississippi
Named after the Mexican barley fields my father worked in and where he first met my mother, Cebadilla Ranch is a multi-cultural, -lingual, and -generational cattle ranch on the bluff of the Mississippi Delta with a mission to conserve traditional Mexican knowledge and foster farm ownership opportunities for Latinx farmworkers in the region. While founded in 2024, my family and I bring over 30 years of working in the northern MS’s beef cattle industry and ranches across the region, and we can’t wait to transform the land, our community, and our lives! Funding from the National Young Farmers Coalition will allow me to pay for a much-needed water well for our ranch. Currently, our ranch is without access to a reliable and accessible water source, so this water well will allow us to provide safe drinking water for our cattle and us as we work the land. Like the water that flowed between my father’s feet, this water well will be the agua that nourishes the next chapter in our lives!
Juniper Battle
Maroon Grove Freedom Farm, Virginia
June Battle is the founder of Maroon Grove Farm in Waverly, Virginia. Maroon Grove is a 21 acre farm in rural southeastern Virginia focusing on poultry, small ruminants, equines, and small batch cut flowers and medicinal herbs. Maroon Grove plans on using this grant to improve infrastructure for our livestock to support and help sustain our animal husbandry practices.
Kia-Beth Bennett
The Bittersweet-Milkweed Collaborative, New York
The Bittersweet-Milkweed Collaborative is a queer, diversified adventure in community-oriented regenerative agriculture, utilizing the practices of queer, intersectional ecology to provide sanctuary and sustenance. Our operation includes cattle, pigs, chickens, sheep, food forests, greenhouses, seed potatoes, seed keeping, and more. I, Kia-Beth, am the manager, and I see agriculture through the my own lens of multi-gender, climate crisis-angry, passionately-in-love-with-life experiences. This funding will purchase the fencing the farm needs to rotationally graze our pig sounder, successfully establishing the BMC as a raiser of healthy, happy piglets and pigs.
Kimberly Curtis
By Our Hands, Louisiana
Kim Curtis is an organic gardener, community organizer, and herbalist. Kim has combined her experience in urban farming and education to offer wellness products and services to the community. Her passion has led her to create By Our Hands, which provides educational programming for non-profits and youth organizations. The vision for By Our Hands is to inspire and empower communities to heal with agroecology. This grant funding will be used to purchase a greenhouse, soil amendments, landscaping equipment, and cover installation expenses.
Lark Articus
Moonlight Ranch LLC, Oregon
Moonlight Ranch was founded in 2020, and regenerative agriculture is our passion. Along with intensive grazing, we focus on restoring waterways, native plants, and the land back to healthy ecosystems. There are quite a few animals that work together to make this happen, including cattle, sheep, pigs, rabbits, chickens, geese, and ducks (not to mention our team of working dogs and barn cats). We’re beyond thankful and excited to have the opportunity to use this grant to secure grazing land leases for our ruminants and purchase winter hay and poultry feed.
Luis Enrique González Lozano
Huerto Urbano del Callejón Trujillo, Puerto Rico
Luis Enrique Gonzalez Lozano is founder, farmer, and community manager of the Huerto Urbano del Callejon Trujillo (HUCT). He received his B.S. in Biology from Pomona Polytechnic University in Pomona, California, before embarking on a long journey of immersive learning in forest conservation and agroecological principles and practices. To reclaim natural, personal, and collective sovereignty and human well-being, Luis Enrique actively practices and teaches food self-management and rainwater harvesting as a means of regeneration and reclaiming access to the commons. HUCT’s vision lies in the awareness and participation of the urban population with the processes of a regenerative agriculture accessible to all. By using agroecology as a didactic tool, we seek to empower communities to take concrete actions to ensure tangible, everyday food sovereignty. This includes the ability to produce food as well as the awareness to support those who produce locally and ecologically. It is envisioned in this year to expand the scale of production to create the possibility of marketing surplus crops as value-added fresh and/or processed products. This means the implementation of controlled and intensive production practices, investment in irrigation infrastructure and rainwater harvesting, as well as incentives for labor. Being able to fairly remunerate the work of people committed to the vision of the garden makes a dignified life based on the Earth a step closer to being attainable. These funds will pay wages to people committed to the garden community who do the work of planting, harvesting, processing and selling the crops.
Maddy Bartsch
Salt of the North, Minnesota
Maddy Bartsch farms a wide variety of natural dye plants at Get Bentz Farm in Northfield, Minnesota. For Maddy, growing local color is their way of contributing to the creation of a thriving, decentralized textile economy, free from petroleum-based products. This grant will enable Maddy to build infrastructure and purchase equipment to safely improve productivity and overall farm profitability.
Mai Nguyen
Farmer Mai, California
Chipotle is proud to partner with the Young Farmer Grant Program to resource people like Mai Nguyen with direct and flexible grant funding. We’re honored to continue hearing the stories of people like Mai and the new generation of passionate farmers, ranchers, and land stewards.
Maura Russell
Ad Astra Farms LLC, Maryland
Ad Astra Farms is a peri-urban microfarm in Southern Prince George’s County, Maryland. The farm’s mission is to support the local food system in Prince George’s and Charles Counties with sustainably grown produce, home garden consultation, and education. As the operator, Maura “Mac” Russell works to operate a CSA, sell at markets, and to donate the first 10% of harvests to local food security networks. She plans to use the award to establish a dedicated wash-pack and cold storage area for the farm.
Melonie Hilbert
Farm and Forest, Ohio
I’m Melonie Hilbert, originally from the beautiful island of Jamaica, now proud to call Ohio my home. As the owner and one of the farmers at Farm and Forest, a small family farm in Moscow, Ohio, I am deeply committed to regenerative agriculture. Beyond our radish operation, we’re expanding to grow salad mixes, various root crops, and native plants that will support conservation efforts across Ohio. Our approach to farming prioritizes natural methods over chemical interventions, ensuring safe crops and improved soil health. This grant is a vital step in our journey, enabling us to construct hoop houses to shield our crops from the summer heat and utilize cold weather protection, allowing us to grow year-round. At Farm and Forest, our mission is to regenerate local resilience, and we’re immensely grateful for this opportunity to further that mission.
Miles Wood
Uhuru Farms, Michigan
Peace Earth family, my name is Miles Wood and I am a returning farmer, here to reclaim the land and legacy of my ancestors that has been lost, appropriated, and stolen. I started Uhuru farms with the vision to facilitate the emergence of new farmers throughout the state of Michigan. I am currently developing a cooperative incubator farm program that breaks down all barriers for beginning farmers and gives them the tools to succeed. This grant will help me with capacity building surrounding field preparation. Much love and gratitude.
Milesha Grier
Three Sisters Farms, Virginia
I am an engineer by trade and a new farmer. I am enjoying beginning this journey with my mother and sisters. I am the owner and operator of Three Sisters Farms, a small farm business in Port Royal, Virginia. I plan to use this grant to maximize crop production by acquiring tools and equipment to reduce labor hours and help optimize my farm.
Natalie Green
Handmade on the Homestead LLC, Virginia
Natalie Green is the owner/operator of Handmade on the Homestead, LLC, a 1-acre farmstead located in Varina, Virginia. She has a passion for helping others understand how to best utilize even the smallest spaces to engage in regenerative practices for fruit, vegetable, and livestock production. She also provides fresh produce via her roadside farmstand and CSA. One of her other passions is offering agriculture-related community building and educational opportunities, primarily for other women. The funds from the grant will be used to build a large cold storage unit, allowing her to expand her produce offerings, CSA, and participate regularly in local farmers markets.
Omar Iloy Colón Muriel
Proyecto Vereda, Puerto Rico
Omar Iloy from Caimito Bajo, Puerto Rico, studied literature and art in the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez and started off as an independent artist after graduating. But his pursuit for sovereignty as an artist would soon lead him to agriculture and today he is part of a beautiful farming project called Proyecto Vereda. Co-founded with Alana Toro Ramos, these two farmers come together to plow the land with a pair of bulls, and they sow ginger, cassava, beans, and all types vegetables and have a steady production of compost to ensure the full circle of sustainability. The dry season has become a very challenging time of the year because of insufficient water storage capacity. This grant will be used to acquire 5,000 gallons in cisterns for rainwater storage.
Priscilla Watson
Grass Becomes a Wave, Washington
Grass Becomes a Wave is a farm and studio project by Priscilla Watson, a new farmer on Whidbey Island, Washington. I grow a mix of crops, including medicine and dye plants that are used to make botanical soaps and body products. I offer plant dye workshops that encourage folks to become more intimate with the land, and culturally-specific produce and other local goods to my local farmers markets. I strive to create and foster a robust food community and economy here in the Northwest.
Rishona Hines
Micro Alliance LLC, Connecticut
Rishona is a multi-racial earth steward, environmentalist, 5th generation farmer, and artist who has grown up at the intersection of urban agriculture, forestry, social justice, and health and wellness. Her dreamseed, Micro Alliance, is an interdisciplinary small business that focuses on remembering ancestral knowledge and integrating holistic approaches in business, health, Afro-Indigenous technologies, and agriculture. Currently Micro Alliance is exploring how low-waste outdoor mushroom cultivation can improve forest health and tree stand improvement while supporting water and soil management. We plan to utilize these grant funds to continue using principles of Afro-Indigenous agro-forestry as a climate mitigation and restoration tool to improve previously industrial mono-cropped soils and rebuild and rehabilitate the existing and future forest stands.
Samantha Delvalle-Trinh
Mushbloom Gardens, Ohio
Mushbloom Gardens is a small farm that raises varieties of mushrooms for the home cook, chef, or beginner foodie looking to explore! As co-owner, Sam is able to combine her science education, love for nature, and passion for food. Being a young, first generation farmer, she hopes to encourage food transparency and accessibility. This grant will help us stack capital and build new infrastructure that will not only allow us to keep growing, but also meet the demand of our community. Thank you so very much!
Sarah Easdon
Grace Heritage Farms, Kansas
Hello! I’m Sarah of Grace Heritage Farms and I have the honor of providing raw goat milk stability for infants, immunocompromised individuals, and health-conscious clientele. I am passionate about utilizing regenerative agriculture to care for the land and animals, and am also deeply committed to providing tested, high-quality milk to protect and heal clients who purchase raw milk from my farm. I believe raw milk can change people’s lives when it is handled correctly. This grant will fund a multi-goat milking machine, the revamp of the milking parlor in my 120+ year-old barn, and aid in achieving the high standards to become listed with the Raw Milk Institute.
Sea Matias
Serra Vida Farm, New York
Chipotle is proud to partner with the Young Farmer Grant Program to resource people like Sea Matias with direct and flexible grant funding. We’re honored to continue hearing the stories of people like Sea and the new generation of passionate farmers, ranchers, and land stewards.
Soraya Alem
Otter Oaks Farm, Illinois
Otter Oaks Farm, owned and operated by partners Soraya Alem and Jarvi Schneider, contributes to the local pipeline of Chicago-grown produce through a sustainable urban farm located in the city. The name “Otter Oaks Farm” pays homage to the cherished memories of Head Grower Jarvi’s grandfather’s Michigan ranch, and what we grow is inspired by Owner and Grower Soraya’s grandmother’s garden in South Louisiana and their Lebanese heritage. Their cultivation is a heartfelt tribute to their loving tie to the land. After doubling the size of their farm this year, they will introduce 50-pound weekly produce box deliveries to local food pantries. This funding will cover the crucial labor needs associated with the expansion of their grow space and incorporating a food pantry initiative into their CSA program.
Stephanie Gomez
Shift Our Ways Collective, California
Stephanie Gomez is a former teacher and outreach coordinator who co-founded Shift Our Ways Collective (SOW), a women-founded non-profit dedicated to regenerative agriculture and food sovereignty. Her passion for food and planting, nurtured by her grandparents, drives her mission to create a nurturing space outdoor learning and community connection. With the Young Farmer Grant, SOW will finally bring to life the long-dreamed-of chicken coop and a greenhouse for year-round growing. These additions will not only enhance their educational programs, but also strengthen community bonds and inspire hope for a sustainable, food-secure future. She is incredibly grateful for this opportunity to grow and give back to her community.
Steven Morris
Morris Farms, Tennessee
Steven is a fourth-generation farmer from Morris Farms located in Eads, Tennessee. He works alongside his father and uncle to raise cattle and hay. As a career conservationist, Steven focuses on implementing regenerative practices like rotational grazing and nutrient management. He plans to use the funding from this opportunity to pay for legal support as the land transfers through generations, pay off the farm debt incurred to make improvements, implement a nutritional feed program for the cattle, and develop a farm marketing and communications strategy.
Thonyoon Chao
Chao Santana Farm LLC, California
Chao Santana Farm LLC is a small, Iu Mien owned farm located in Upper Lake, California. We produce seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers for our local community. Our sales outlets include a farm stand, farmers’ markets, and local businesses. The funds provided from the grant will help us launch a “Bring Your Own Box/Basket/Bag” program that will reduce operating and equipment costs and encourage reuse of recyclable packaging items. Funds will also be used to assist in the purchase of seeds, seed starting materials, and supplies.
Turquoise Connelly
Global Native Farms LLC, Ohio
I’m a community-based mental health worker in addition to a farmer. This grant will help me further my farming efforts by providing financial support for me as I advance my education. It will provide a base for myself and my team to develop stronger programming that will operate on farm to advance community wellness projects related to food, culture, and holistic well-being.
Yura Sapi
Protectores de la Tierra, New York
Meet Yura Sapi, a visionary farmer dedicated to evolving agriculture through a blend of Indigenous practices and cultural activities. With a successful farming venture in Colombia, Yura is set to establish a thriving nonprofit agricultural venture and cultural venue in New York, fostering ecological stewardship and community engagement. With plans to expand to a multi-acre location in upstate New York, the Young Farmer Grant will provide essential resources to realize this vision, creating a dynamic space that bridges art, healing, and farming while prioritizing engagement with marginalized communities and promoting positive societal connections between people, the land, and artistic expression.
