The California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force held a listening session in Bakersfield on Tuesday, July 15, at Compassion Christian Center. It was part of a statewide effort by the Strategic Growth Council to listen to farmers and community members who have been left out in the past and learn about the challenges they face getting and keeping farmland.
The event was hosted with help from the Kern County Black Farmers Association, We Grow Farmers, and the NAACP Bakersfield Branch.
The task force is working on a plan to help more people in California access farmland, especially those who have faced barriers in the past. The task force includes 13 members from across the state, including three tribal representatives. They’ve been meeting since October 2023 and will finish their work by the end of this year.
During the recent public meeting in Bakersfield, the task force members explained they’ve been meeting in different parts of California and listening to farmers, land workers, and other community members about the challenges people face when trying to farm or access land.
The task force also shared results from a survey that over 200 people answered. It found that the biggest problems people face include: High land costs, difficulty finding land to rent or buy, lack of money and financial support, and limited access to water and equipment.
At the event, people shared stories about losing land, not being able to get money to grow their farms, unfair rules, and zoning problems.
“We’ve heard stories from up and down the state about zoning, water rights, permits, land theft, and systemic racism,” said Tessa Salzman, Agricultural Land Equity analyst. “We’re using this input to draft recommendations due later this year.”
Terrence Richardson, a local urban farmer, said he turned his whole backyard into a farm to grow food for people in his neighborhood.
“I applied for a home occupation permit and was told, ‘You can’t grow or sell anything here,’” he said. “I got a threatening letter from the county a year later. But I’m still growing.”
Antoinette Greenwood Jacobs shared that both her father and father-in-law were Black farmers who worked hard to build a life for their families. Her father-in-law once farmed over 2,500 acres of land. But over time, lack of financial support and age made it hard to continue. She said it broke her heart when he had to retire because banks wouldn’t give him funding. “They told him he was too old,” she recalled. Now, she and her husband live on 20 acres and continue to honor their family’s farming legacy.
Doria Robinson, a third-generation resident of Richmond and a member of the Land Equity Task Force, talked about growing up on her grandparents’ 350-acre ranch. Today, she runs a 10-acre urban farm in Richmond through her nonprofit, Urban Tilth. She said, “This work is close to my heart.” As a farmer, church member, and advocate, she’s helping shape policies so more people of color can own and care for land.
Katherine Jordan, also known as Grandma Whoople, shared a program of teaching children to grow their own food and enter their crops at the Kern County Fair. She said they’ll celebrate their efforts with a banquet and use the program as a way to build self-worth and create lifelong memories.
Karen Compton, who came from Sacramento, said she’s interested in farming but doesn’t know where to start. Her parents are from the South, where farming was common, but that knowledge wasn’t passed down to her generation after moving to the city. She joined the meeting to learn what first steps to take to reconnect with the land.
The final Agricultural Land Equity report is expected by the end of 2025.
