Black Lives Matter

Black farmers built our state and our country.

For far too long, their legacies have been ignored. But they matter. Black legacies matter. Black descendants matter. Black farmers matter. Black futures matter.

Georgia Organics has worked in and around the soil of our state for 23 years without adequately supporting and fighting for Black people.

As we have grown, Black agricultural groups and their leaders like Ralph Paige, Cynthia Hayes, K. Rashid Nuri, Cashawn Myers, and many others have done more than their part to guide our work to rightfully and equitably include Black farmers, Black teachers, and Black organizers.

But ultimately, as a white-led organization, we have contributed to systemic racism by failing to fully listen to and engage our Black food community. We have failed to address the systemic racism and the racist history of agriculture in the South. Even when we listened, we did not consistently commit to actionable steps to build a more equitable food system. 
 
It shouldn’t have taken the murders of Rayshard Brooks, George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and countless other Black people for Georgia Organics to condemn police brutality and commit to action for Black farmers, Black food workers, and Black eaters.

Food justice is racial justice. They are inextricably linked and must go hand-in-hand to achieve “Good Food for All.” This vision is simply unattainable until we have good food from Black farmers and for Black eaters in communities across our state, region, country, and world.

We stand in solidarity to end the injustices toward our Black communities, and we commit to ingrain the fact that Black Lives Matter into our values and our work moving forward by: 

• Building authentic relationships with Black staff, board members, farmers, and community members, soliciting and listening to their feedback, prioritizing their needs, and acting swiftly and courageously to uplift Black lives and voices; 

• Assessing and revising our organizational mission, vision, and values in order to recalibrate with racial equity infused into our identity and day-to-day culture; 

• Updating our annual and strategic plans to include racial equity in all of our work; 

• Creating a multi-faceted road map for systemic change at Georgia Organics; 

• Working daily to create systemic change in our agricultural landscape in the spirit of reconciliation and reparations through direct financial support to Black farmers. 

This isn’t simply a statement. This is a commitment to an ongoing, transparent, and accountable conversation about how Georgia Organics will evolve into an anti-racist organization and promote resilience in diversity from soil to farms to kitchens to communities.