West Michigan Farmers of Color Land Fund
The West Michigan Young Farmers Chapter focuses on building power for Black, Brown and Indigenous farmers. Through our fundraising and educational work, we are strengthening the local coalition of growers and allies in West Michigan’s agricultural sector.
About the Land Fund
We are the West Michigan Chapter of Young Farmers, a group of farmers and advocates who work to build power for the next generation of farmers by centering intergenerational community building for people of color. In 2025, we were able to distribute $50,000 amongst six farmers of color through our West Michigan Farmers of Color Land Fund initiative, thanks to the support of the public. Check out the awardees in this video!
We aim to continue financially supporting more farmers each year, and strengthening the bonds in this community through our farmer-centric events. We do this through hands-on and educational food justice events for youth, families, farmers and elders, like our Freedom School program, Let’s Grow Workshops, farmer focused Cultivate events, and a future incubator farm.
This fundraiser will go directly into the hands of Black, Brown and Indigenous farmers in West Michigan towards securing land and infrastructure. This year, we will be prioritizing awards for collective purchases of land, because collaboration keeps us strong!
This work is a small step towards repairing the long overdue injustices to communities of color, which have led to the loss of generational wealth and land. Land access is the number one barrier for beginning farmers. This barrier is even higher for Black, Indigenous, Latinx and other farmers of color, who have experienced systemic land loss due to discriminatory and predatory lending practices by the USDA and banks. Land across the US was stewarded and farmed sustainably by Indigenous peoples long before it was pillaged by colonizers to become our current agricultural system. Today, sustainable agricultural trends such as permaculture have rebranded these ideas from traditional practices of Indigenous peoples without crediting them. It is crucial that we redistribute power among these groups through secure land; over 40% of farmland is leased, which makes it difficult for farmers to invest in infrastructure and find stability. Join us in supporting the future land stewards of West Michigan!
Learn more about our other programming at our Instagram or our website, where you can sign up for our newsletter! This project is inspired by the innovative work of the Detroit Black Farmer Land Fund which raises money to support land access for Black farmers in their community. The National Young Farmers Coalition is our fiscal sponsor for this fundraiser, so all donations are tax deductible.
Our programming, communications and events are supported by the Wege Foundation, the Grand Rapids Community Foundation’s Black Legacy Fund, and the National Black Food and Justice Alliance.