Leah Penniman

Leah lives in Grafton, New York, where she is the co-director of Soul Fire Farm. She’s the author of Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land and has adapted some of her ideas from that book for this article.

By Reconnecting With Soil, We Heal the Planet and Ourselves

By Leah Penniman, YES! magazine

The truth is that for thousands of years Black people have had a sacred relationship with soil that far surpasses our 246 years of enslavement and 75 years of sharecropping in the United States.

March 22, 2019

After a Century In Decline, Black Farmers Are Back And On the Rise

By Leah Penniman, YES! magazine

These Black farmers don’t stop at healthy food. They’re healing trauma, instilling collective values, and changing the way their communities think about the land.

May 10, 2016

Four Ways Mexico’s Indigenous Farmers Are Practicing the Agriculture of the Future

By Leah Penniman, YES! magazine

While it was difficult to leave behind the daily responsibilities of tending the land, I knew that only grassroots farmer-to-farmer exchange could solve the world’s food crisis.

August 12, 2015

Radical Farmers Use Fresh Food to Fight Racial Injustice and the New Jim Crow

By Leah Penniman, YES! magazine

Owning our own land, growing our own food, educating our own youth, participating in our own healthcare and justice systems—this is the source of real power and dignity.

February 11, 2015