New Gullah/Geechee Agro-🌲Culture App Launched!
The Gullah Geechee Agro-Culture app is an extension of the Gullah/Geechee Agroculture project. We are pleased to provide this resource to members of all Gullah/Geechee communities at no additional fee.
This app contains important information about financial and technical resources available through multiple federal, state, and local programs. This app also provides links to relevant videos, community organizations, and articles.
The aim of this study was to determine potential workable strategies to address capacity issues and sustain family farming across Gullah/Geechee generations. Gullah/Geechee is an African-based culture deeply tied to family farming and fishing
This research effort revealed gaps in knowledge of and access to essential public resources for Gullah/Geechee farming and fishing families, in part because of decades of discrimination in the implementation of those programs.
Principle investigators worked in partnership with cooperating farmers to design an easy-to-use Public Resource Framework (resource guide) that outlines important details for key resources that can help build the financial sustainability of smaller family farm businesses.
The research also uncovered key outreach and awareness tools and techniques that can be used to encourage younger members of the Gullah/Geechee community to consider farming as a vital career option.
St. Helena Island is a magical place on the South Carolina coastline where African American men and women have farmed this land and fished this water for centuries--first as plantation slaves, then as freedmen. It's now one of the last communities on the East Coast that hasn't been swallowed up by development and tourism. But St. Helena's way of life is at a crossroads. Watch and see how farmers and fishermen have adapted to the modern world and whether they would be able to pass this rich heritage to the next generation.
https://youtu.be/-BHpY7L_aNw (Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation provides the meaning of the national flag of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. www.gullahgeecheenation.com
Every day, farmers and ranchers develop new, innovative strategies to produce and distribute food, fuel and fiber sustainably. The expertise of farmers, ag professionals, and others in the ag community is invaluable when coming up with sustainable solutions to agricultural challenges.
Southern.sare.org
The SC Black Farmers Coalition provides support & community through coalition meetings and conferences, farm business resources and training, needs assessments, public policy advocacy and education.
Scblackfarmers.com
Gullah/Geechee is an African-based culture deeply tied to family farming and fishing. Gullah/Geechee cultural principles include distinct land and water use practices, foodways, spiritual practices, the spoken Gullah language, and traditional craftsmanship.
Agro-culture is the application of cultural principles to agriculture practices. Research shows that culture and agriculture ecosystems are inextricably linked – when we help sustain agriculture in Gullah/Geechee communities, we help sustain the actual Gullah/Geechee culture in these communities as well.
Gullah/Geechee communities are comprised of limited-resource farmers underrepresented in the farm industry, and historically denied equitable access to government and private sources of capitals and technical assistance. This has resulted in lower capacity for profitability, stability and sustainability. The history of how Black farmers (and Gullah/Geechee farmers) came to be underserved by public policy dates back to the period of chattel enslavement, where African people with a wealth of agricultural knowledge and skills were forced by slave codes to work the land for without compensation; then the period of Jim Crow segregation supported laws that essentially recreated many of the conditions of slavery for Black sharecroppers. Farmers were no exception to instances of individual violence and discrimination faced by most African Americans, and particularly those residing in the South where most Black farms and farmers are located. However, research suggests that a significant factor in the current conditions of underserved farmers today is due to decades of systematic discrimination by private and public institutions, not individuals.
No! This app is being made available thanks to generous support of Southern SARE. We intend to identify resources that will support this app at no cost to members of all Gullah/Geechee communities indefinitely.
Gullah/Geechee is an African-based culture deeply tied to family farming and fishing. Gullah/Geechee cultural principles include distinct land and water use practices, foodways, spiritual practices, the spoken Gullah language, and traditional craftsmanship.
Agro-culture is the application of cultural principles to agriculture practices. Research shows that culture and agriculture ecosystems are inextricably linked – when we help sustain agriculture in Gullah/Geechee communities, we help sustain the actual Gullah/Geechee culture in these communities as well.
Gullah/Geechee communities are comprised of limited-resource farmers underrepresented in the farm industry, and historically denied equitable access to government and private sources of capitals and technical assistance. This has resulted in lower capacity for profitability, stability and sustainability. The history of how Black farmers (and Gullah/Geechee farmers) came to be underserved by public policy dates back to the period of chattel enslavement, where African people with a wealth of agricultural knowledge and skills were forced by slave codes to work the land for without compensation; then the period of Jim Crow segregation supported laws that essentially recreated many of the conditions of slavery for Black sharecroppers. Farmers were no exception to instances of individual violence and discrimination faced by most African Americans, and particularly those residing in the South where most Black farms and farmers are located. However, research suggests that a significant factor in the current conditions of underserved farmers today is due to decades of systematic discrimination by private and public institutions, not individuals.
No! This app is being made available thanks to generous support of Southern SARE. We intend to identify resources that will support this app at no cost to members of all Gullah/Geechee communities indefinitely.