Rice farming as justice: Black farmers reclaim a birthright while healing the land
Jubilee Justice is helping Black farmers in the South grow rice regeneratively, restoring ancestral ties to the land while tackling climate change.
Nicole J. Caruth reports for Civil Eats.
In short:
- Jubilee Justice, founded by Konda Mason, trains Black farmers to grow rice using the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a climate-friendly technique that reduces methane emissions and water use.
- The Black Farmers Cohort supports growers across six states with seeds, equipment, and technical assistance to overcome the challenges of adopting SRI.
- The project addresses racial and economic inequities, reclaiming a legacy rooted in African agricultural expertise and rebuilding Black land ownership.
Key quote:
“What we’re doing is reclaiming rice and rice farming as our foodways, as our invention, as our birthright.”
— Konda Mason, founder of Jubilee Justice
Why this matters:
This project intertwines racial justice and climate resilience, showing how regenerative farming can lower emissions while empowering historically marginalized farmers. Growing rice regeneratively reconnects Black communities to ancestral agricultural roots and restores economic opportunity to land that often harbors painful stories. Read more: Rising CO2 will leave crops—and millions of humans—less healthy.
