Why Kamal Bell Became a First-Generation Farmer

Field Work

Documentary, Society & Culture

5 • 652 Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Food deserts are places with limited access to fruits and vegetables. When the topic popped up in one of his college classes, Kamal Bell decided to do more than just talk about it. Bell started Sankofa Farms, a 12-acre farm in North Carolina. He grows kale, raises farm-fresh eggs and keeps bees there. In this episode, Bell talks about overcoming the challenges he faces as a first-generation Black farmer and why he's committed to helping young people gain valuable agriculture experience.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everybody and welcome back to the fieldwork podcast.
0:11.9	And of course, thanks a ton to the Walton Family Foundation for their support this season.
0:16.2	I'm Zach Johnson.
0:17.5	And I'm Tara Vanerducent.
0:19.1	And today we're going to be chatting with a North Carolina
0:21.1	that I had the privilege of meeting at the American Farm Bureau Convention in Atlanta.
0:25.3	We actually spoke together on a panel and were featured in the Farm Bureau Ag Sustainability
0:29.4	video and his name is Kamal Bell. Kamal runs a 53-acre farm just northeast of Raleigh Durham.
0:36.1	And unlike Tara and me, he's a first-generation farmer,
0:38.9	which of course means he's faced some big challenges getting his farm going. Before starting his
0:43.7	farm in 2016, Kamal taught agricultural biotechnology to middle school students, which I don't know,
0:50.3	I was never a big fan of school personally. I don't know about you, Tara.
0:59.2	I didn't take ag in school either, so I feel like this might, we might learn a lot today.
1:05.3	More than likely, yeah, I'm hoping so. Yeah, so hi, Kamal. Thank you so much for joining us today.
1:10.8	I'm so excited to have you on. Thank you. Thank you all for having me. Thank you all for having me. I think it's going to be a great podcast today.
1:14.2	Can you give us an outline, Kamal, of what your farmer's like? And, I mean, what does that look like?
1:15.7	What are you dealing with there?
1:17.4	I think I meant to say it.
1:18.9	Oh, I meant to stop earlier.
1:20.2	The farm is 12 acres.
1:22.2	Well, one day, it might be 53.
1:24.5	I would enjoy that.
	...

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