Kamal Bell, Taij and Victoria Cotten, Kara Dodson, Juan Quinonez Zepeda, and Camil Valentin are five farmers under 35 who, along with their families, are redefining what it means to farm. Each has faced diverse challenges, like obtaining land, navigating systemic barriers, and building sustainable operations. Yet all are driven by a desire to pay it forward and foster something lasting.

These farmers aren’t just growing food — they’re building community and investing in the future of agriculture. Mentorship plays a crucial role in their work, whether it’s soaking up knowledge passed down from experienced farmers or helping the next generation find its footing. From climate-smart practices and agroforestry to empowering farmworkers and young people, these stories demonstrate how farming is more than just a livelihood — it’s a way to connect people, restore balance with the land, and build a future that is both sustainable and equitable for those who come after.

Kamal Bell
Sankofa Farms – Efland, NC

Kamal Bell founded Sankofa Farms in response to systemic issues he was seeing, such as food deserts, difficulty accessing land, and the lack of fresh, healthy food options for Black communities. He seeks to empower his community through land-based solutions that promote food sovereignty and economic self-sufficiency. At Sankofa Farms, Bell has successfully established a diversified farm focusing on sustainable practices and growing accessible, nutrient-rich food for underserved areas.

“When I saw all these issues in our communities and so many other disparities, I thought they were all connected back to the land. I believed that farming could help solve it,” Bell says. Determined to be part of the solution, he pursued a bachelor’s degree in animal science and a master’s in agricultural education from NC A&T to gain knowledge and experience and to prepare himself for a future in agriculture.

After graduation, he spent four years teaching earth and environmental sciences to middle schoolers, engaged young men in an agricultural academy at his farm, and worked toward a Ph.D., but his ultimate goal was to farm. When he found 12 acres just north of Durham, he applied for a loan through the USDA Farm Service Agency. Although he was initially denied, he appealed the decision and, with the help of his mentor Howard Allen, successfully secured the funding he needed to purchase the land and cover initial operating expenses. Reflecting on land access challenges, Bell notes, “I think there would be many more stories like Sankofa’s if we didn’t have to face all the barriers to accessing land.” He proudly shares that he’s been a full-time farmer for two years.

Bell’s most significant challenges were building capital and learning to farm in a sustainable, diversified system. “I’ve had to learn that system through trial and error and mentorship. Howard Allen is one of my former mentors, and he’s helped abundantly with getting me informed, answering questions, and being a resource,” Bell says. Allen is known in the Triangle area of North Carolina as a “farmer’s farmer” and one who is always willing to share his knowledge and wisdom. (See Living Roots Issue 1, “Tunnel Vision: A High Tunnel Raising.”)

Mentorship like Allen’s is critical for young farmers. Talking to experienced farmers who have already navigated start-up challenges is invaluable, says Bell. “We need things like ‘Where do you get your irrigation equipment?’ ‘Do you need to work with a company that grows and ships transplants to you?’ There are so many things that we just don’t know early on. We need more resources and support around how to actually grow food. And how to hold on to our land.” Bell also encourages young farmers to get involved with local agricultural institutions and establish relationships with their local USDA office staff early on. Building these connections ahead of time can make it much easier to navigate USDA programs and resources when needed.

Kamal Bell is more than just a farmer — he’s a community-builder, an advocate, and a catalyst for change. Through Sankofa Farms, he’s transforming land into opportunity and turning food into a powerful tool for empowerment. His work shows that farming isn’t just about what you grow; it’s about who you lift up along the way. BH

Taij & Victoria Cotten
CottenPicked Farm – Pittsboro, NC

If you come across a vibrant hideaway, alive with brilliant colors, nestled in the heart of downtown Pittsboro, chances are it’s the creation of Taij and Victoria Cotten. With their bright smiles, overflowing energy, and a fresh perspective on sustainable agriculture, their path into farming is as lively and surprising as the lisianthus flourishing in their fields.

The Cotten’s love story and farming journey took a serendipitous turn in 2017 when they responded to a Craigslist ad to work for one week helping with the Mother’s Day rush at Preston Flowers in Cary, NC. They fell in love with flowers. This moment prompted them to leave their jobs and travel across the Piedmont region, learning from various farmers. They enrolled at Central Carolina Community College to enhance their technical expertise, focusing on sustainable agriculture. Their approach was to divide and conquer. Sharing one car and a flip phone, they plunged into farming wholeheartedly, acquiring experience in numerous agricultural areas, from sheep shearing to row crops to blueberry orchards.

They launched their farming business in October 2023, cultivating one acre of land they affectionately call their “farm-dom.” They lease the land with a cousin, a fellow young Black farmer specializing in cattle. They also grow perennial crops at Victoria’s mother’s house, which they aspire to transform into their permanent farm. Much of the family-owned land is forested and not readily available for agricultural use, but they are exploring ways to overcome this obstacle. Creativity and passion seem to unfold solutions to the many trials of farming.

The Cottens acknowledge the challenges and stigma associated with farming as a Black family. Some naysayers still associate Black farmers with historical connotations of slavery and sharecropping, but the Cottens celebrate farming as an act of liberation and independence. They wanted to escape the constraints of a traditional 40-hour work week to be with their children and follow their passion for working the land. For them, farming offers freedom, self-reliance, and a lifestyle that is meaningful and fulfilling.

One word captures the Cotten’s farming philosophy: intentionality. To them, farming is more than planting seeds; it’s about sowing purpose, both in the soil and in the relationships they nurture along their journey. They have learned to embrace their unique experiences, understanding that their struggles and successes differ from those of others in the field and that no universal solution will fit each farm’s distinct trajectory. Their counsel to fellow farmers is to focus on their own journey while keeping an awareness of the broader landscape, to cultivate with intention, and to maintain resilience. Ultimately, no matter how challenging the journey may become, farming — when approached with intention — fosters growth, not only in the fields but in life itself. HOB

Kara Dodson
Full Moon Farm – Deep Gap, NC

Until 2015, Kara Dodson worked as a field organizer for an environmental organization, promoting energy efficiency and campaigning against coal ash pollution and mountaintop removal in Appalachia. Exhausted by the burnout culture of high-stakes nonprofit work and her desire to work both body and mind, Dodson left her job at age 25 to work on an organic farm in the North Carolina High Country. In 2016, she and her partner, Jacob Crigler, bought land in Deep Gap, NC, and launched Full Moon Farm.

Dodson and Crigler grow produce on their 30-acre farm using organic, sustainable, and no-till practices. Initially, they marketed through multiple channels in a sort of “buckshot approach,” selling through a CSA, a farmstand, direct sales to restaurants, and a weekday farmers market. Nowadays, they mainly sell through the High Country Food Hub, a year-round online farmers market, as well as selling to the Hunger and Health Coalition food pantry.

Dodson’s nearly decade-long farming journey has brought many lessons along the way. “There’s several learning curves around working with a partner, whether a spouse or a business partner,” she says. She also mentions the learning curve around timing capital investments on the farm. “I would say go slow, especially with investing. I see a lot of people buy expensive equipment or expensive property or want to do things 100% organic, regenerative, highly managed right away, and you don’t get to learn about your working skills or the land you’re working on.” She recommends going through several experimental phases to understand what crops and approaches work best on your land, even if some efforts fail. “I think farming teaches you to fail over and over again, and you start to see failure not as a bad thing,” Dodson shares.

Dodson and Crigler had help from their family when they first purchased their land. Since then, property values in their area have skyrocketed. “Acquiring land is still too hard for people who don’t have generational wealth, and that’s just the reality,” Dodson says. The couple is positioning Full Moon Farm to support the next generation of small farmers. They are transitioning the farm to nonprofit status and plan to grow food for bulk sales to food access groups and distribution programs. Over time, they will transition ownership of the land beyond their 4-acre homestead to the nonprofit, which will hire beginning farmers to learn the ropes of managing the property and give growers an opportunity to farm on land they otherwise could not afford to buy themselves.

Dodson is excited to pay it forward by mentoring young farmers just starting out. “Farming is something that needs to be taught, and it needs to be something that’s mentored. It’s not something that can be taught in a classroom or a college environment. And for people who want to get into farming that respects the environment and climate and resource use, they need to learn that from other people who are doing it in real-time.” She, Crigler, and their new nonprofit board also hope to build public spaces on the property for activities like group counseling so that Full Moon Farm can be a place for growing, education, and healing. KH

Juan Quinonez Zepeda
Cebadilla Ranch – Senatobia, Mississippi

“Cebadilla means ‘barley’ in Spanish — the barley fields where my stepdad worked in Mexico with his stepdad when he was about 11 years old,” says Juan Quinonez Zepeda. “In those fields is where he met my mother and where they first locked eyes. And I guess the rest is kind of history.”

Cebadilla Ranch is a 28-acre cattle operation in Senatobia, Mississippi, that Quinonez Zepeda owns and co-manages with his family. It was founded in early 2024 as a multi-cultural, -lingual, and -generational ranch with a mission to conserve traditional Mexican knowledge, build collective Latine immigrant power, and foster farm ownership opportunities for Latine farmworkers in the region.

Quinonez Zepeda grew up surrounded by agriculture. Born in California and raised in Mexico, Quinonez Zepeda’s love for agriculture was nurtured by his grandmother, who now operates an all-women coffee cooperative in Casimiro Castillo, Jalisco, Mexico. He started working in the northern Mississippi cattle industry with his stepdad at 14, laboring long hours during summers and school breaks. “It wasn’t something that brought me any joy back then. I think I very quickly realized … the power dynamics between white owners and Latine workers that my dad was subject to, and that I then also became subject to — the levels of labor exploitation and wage theft and lack of proper recognition for the work that people are doing. Then, I went to college in New Hampshire, and my first job there, making $10 an hour, was more than my dad was making at that time. And I told myself I’m never going back; that is not what I want to do.”

Yet, while in college, Quinonez Zepeda began connecting to his family’s experiences through a social justice lens. In 2020, he co-founded FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund, a mutual aid organization to support dairy farmworkers in the Northeast, while focusing his senior honors thesis on migrants in northern Misssissippi’s beef cattle industry. Increasingly, he felt called to return to Mississippi and the cattle industry on his terms.

In 2024, he and his family purchased the land for Cebadilla from a family contact. The previous landowner, with over 50 years of experience in the cattle industry, continues to guide the family as they set up their business. Quinonez Zepeda says that support has been a blessing. Still, it’s one that other Latine families do not have access to in a region that lacks multicultural and multilingual support for aspiring farmers. He sees a growing shift in the industry where folks who have worked as farmworkers for decades are seeking to become farm owners and establish a permanent legacy for their children. However, they need Spanish-language support to navigate legal and financial processes for obtaining land.

Quinonez Zepeda hopes to position Cebadilla Ranch as part of the solution. He envisions creating an incubator ranch offering peer-to-peer educational opportunities online and on the ranch. He also wants Cebadilla to showcase Latine and immigrant agricultural workers’ essential knowledge and deep experiences, pushing back against harmful stereotypes that depict them as an unskilled labor force.

Quinonez Zepeda is hopeful that supporting the transition of farmworkers to farm owners will help advance broader transformations toward a more inclusive, sustainable, and just food system. “I think that’s the powerful thing about having people who previously worked [as farmworkers], who now are shifting to owners, that they don’t want to replicate those systems of harm that they experienced themselves, and want to take care of the land and the animals in a different way than what they previously experienced,” he says. “As a younger generation, I think we’ll have the ability to redefine what agriculture means for us, what we want to make it.” KH

Camil Valentin
Huerta Libre – San Sebastián, Puerto Rico

Camil Valentin’s journey into agriculture began in 2014 when a high school agricultural education course changed her life. “It transformed me,” she says. “I went from wanting to study law to dedicating myself to agriculture.” Valentin’s entrepreneurial spirit emerged early — she started selling cilantro to her teachers while still young.

When she began cultivating cilantro and eggplants, it became clear that farming would be her life’s passion. “Agriculture became this driving force. I understood that I wanted to work for social justice, but I wanted to do it through action,” she shared. She studied political science and sustainable agriculture at the University of Puerto Rico in Utuado.

She began farming at relatives’ homes, working with about a quarter of an acre. At that time, Valentin produced value-added products and participated in farmers markets. Challenges like urban encroachment and herbicide use from neighboring homes soon drove her to seek a farm of her own.

Two years ago, Valentin acquired a 5.6-cuerda (about 5.4-acre) former sugarcane and coffee farm in the rural, isolated Mirabales neighborhood of San Sebastián. As she familiarized herself with the land, she discovered how degraded its soil was. Its soil has a pH of 4.8 (extremely acidic), an uneven topography, and signs of a landslide.

Valentin and her team began transforming the farm, called Huerta Libre, into an agroforestry system. Their long-term goal is for it to be a model farm, showcasing agroforestry practices and functioning as a forest school. Valentin envisions creating a space where young people can explore and engage with sustainable agriculture.

Currently, Huerta Libre focuses on grafted breadfruit as its star product, grown in symbiotic association with smaller fruits such as soursop, custard apples, oranges, grapefruit, and pineapples. However, the farm is in a transitional phase as Valentin works to build essential infrastructure, including a house/workshop, a nursery, shaded structures, and an improved drainage system.

Erosion is a major issue. “It’s an everyday battle, having a farm with irregular topography where it rains a lot. We haven’t been able to pave or lay down stones yet,” she says. An infrastructure grant from RAFI has allowed Valentin to work on fixing some trenches, hopefully mitigating an impending landslide. “It’s a constant challenge,” she says. The farm is also heavily shaded, preventing the growth of erosion-controlling crops like vetiver.

Another obstacle has been finding agroforestry models in Puerto Rico that align with her vision. Many nearby farms grow coffee or cocoa, which are commodities, but Valentin wants to grow food. A visit to Ecuador gave her hope: The agroforestry system she envisioned was possible and already being practiced there for the past 10, 15, or even 20 years! “As tropical countries, we must bet on these more resilient systems,” she notes.

She reflects on helping her grandmother harvest in their garden and how it shaped her connection to agriculture. “We would plant pigeon peas, pick acerola cherries, climb trees to get grapefruits. I now realize how lucky I was to have lived such a close-to-nature childhood. It helped me develop a deep sensitivity to nature, the forest, and agriculture.”

Ultimately, Valentin sees Huerta Libre not just as a farm but as a place of learning, hope, and community — a place where sustainable practices can flourish and serve as a model for the island and beyond. ZM