(blues music) - We're just growing in here for seed production for next year.
- [Jason] Bernard Singleton gives us a tour of his pride and joy.
- All those are gonna be different cultivars of rice.
- [Jason] Nebudaye Farms in Union County.
- [Reporter] Now how much land do you have here?
How many acres you got?
- This is 11 acres total.
- [Jason] The unique name is rooted in history.
- It's the word that they use for the moringa plant in Senegal.
It's like the pigeon warrior that never die 'cause it has so much health properties.
It's total, complete nutrition.
They call it the miracle plant.
- And it's that never die spirit that drives Singleton, with his mascot Chocolate, the goat, nearby.
He's been planting and growing all sorts of things.
Here at Nebudaye for the last three plus years.
- We maintain a African botanical garden where we grow about 23 species of vegetables and I consider myself a cultural preservationist around agriculture and food.
- [Jason] Singleton's growing success at Nebudaye comes in part thanks to the Carolina Farm Trust which, through corporate and individual donations and grants, supports small community-based farmers like Singleton by helping them lease or purchase land, equipment and other supplies.
- We are really trying to build a decentralized, regional food system.
You know, how do we build a profitable, an economic model for our farming community to participate in?
And then how do we create convenient access to our community up and down the socioeconomic ladder?
- He presented it to me, saying, "Oh, we may have a farm coming available "if you'd be interested."
First I said no.
Then I said yes.
(laughs) Okay, and I'm glad I did.
(upbeat music) - [Jason] The Carolina Farm Trust's main goal is to strengthen the local food system from local production to consumption.
- We're trying to get people to understand the importance of production and consumption.
And what we mean by that is understanding where your food comes from, the importance of it.
- There's a long journey, you know, from where that food started to where it ends up on that table.
And what we're trying to do with our mission is shorten that up but also get the community to understand where they spend their money in our food system is so critical.
- [Jason] Zach Wyatt serves as executive director of the Carolina Farm Trust which formed in 2015.
- And then the four on the ground pillars we have is an urban farm network, a farm apprentice program, a food is health program, and then a distribution platform you know, to drive economic models that are profitable for our farming community and create those convenient access points to our consumers.
- In addition to helping area farmers with infrastructure, the CFT feels that access to healthy foods shouldn't depend on race or socioeconomic status or where someone lives.
- But slowly within on the west side, I've noticed that the opportunity in the, let's call the playing field wasn't level.
All the grocery stores left.
And then you had convenience stores that came.
And so I watched slowly the access to fresh produce disappear.
- [Jason] And that's why Carolina Farm Trust also partners with the Mecklenburg County Senior Nutrition Program, providing free farm fresh produce to a dozen sites like the Anita Stroud's Senior Complex on Charlotte's West Side.
- Many of them don't have transportation to grocery stores, many of them have limited budgets.
So it helps them to stretch their budget.
So we are able to come directly to them where they live which really helps them out a lot.
- The produce that's going into the Senior Nutrition Program was either picked that morning or the day before so it actually has a shelf life.
You know, they don't immediately have to kind of go in and salvage it.
- I've had comments from some of the seniors that they feel that they're the forgotten part of society.
And so when we come out and we interact with them and we are able to provide this service to them, they are so grateful.
I mean, some of them have been in tears.
- At Carolina Farm Trust.
We take honor and we take pride in being able to serve and being able to assist.
So being able to see the happiness and the joy on our seniors' face when they're getting their fresh produce.
That means more than anything.
- [Jason] Recently awarded a $400,000 grant, Carolina Farm Trust broke ground on a 28 acre site in Huntersville.
Once complete, it'll become one of the state's largest urban farms.
- And the really cool thing about this property is 300,000 people, and I really think that's a low estimate, can get here within about 15 minutes.
- [Jason] Strengthening regional food security, shifting the power of food systems towards consumers and local growers, rebalancing the relationship between people and land, creating equitable economic opportunity and agriculture.
It sounds like a lot, but these are all things that Carolina Farm Trust hopes to accomplish.
- We don't have to wait for the government to do things.
We don't have to wait for foundations or corporations.
You know, as individual citizens, a $5, $10 a month donation goes a long way.
- It's like a big circle, you know, as we're able to provide and assist our local farmers and sell their products for them and provide nutritious, it's a win-win for everybody.
- Next year comes and four or five years come, imagine if we can feed 45, 50% of the Charlotte region from the Charlotte region.
Imagine we can do that for the Carolinas, and we can.
You know, there's nothing saying that we can't.
We just have to, as a society, say "That's valuable."
- [Jason] And they're doing all of this one person and one farm at a time.
For "Carolina Impact", I'm Jason Terzis reporting.