Ashanti Williams
Black Yard Farm Collective
Impact
100+
Total loans made, and growing
$2,138,964
Total capital deployed
62%
of funding deployed to BIPOC- led operations
Who We Serve
We exist to create financial opportunity for small-scale, regenerative farmers and food entrepreneurs who have faced barriers to traditional capital. Whether this is through discrimination, lack of collateral, or lack of business skills, we work with borrowers of all stripes to build genuine equity into regional foodsheds.
What's a Foodshed?
Similar to a watershed, a foodshed is the many-layered landscape that exists to produce the food you eat. It is:
The farms where food is grown
The processing, storage, and distribution facilities that get it where it needs to go
The farmers markets, grocery stores, and restaurants where you purchase or consume it.
The pandemic taught us that when disaster strikes, it's the small-scale, regenerative farmers nearby who keep us fed. And yet, those farmers are less likely to have equitable access to the land, capital, and business support they need to survive.
With access to the right resources, small farms can integrate the efficiency and innovation so lauded by the industrial food sector—without destroying the planet in the process.
How We Work
Our work is made possible by combining philanthropic support from donors large and small, impact investment, and partnership with a growing web of food system advocates around the country. We partner with individuals, foundations, financial institutions, businesses, non-profits, and government agencies who share our interest in supporting the financial needs of regional foodsheds.
Thanks to these and many others:
