Agrarian Trust is collaborating with the Southwest Virginia Agrarian Commons to purchase the 3.5-acre Lick Run Farm in urban Roanoke, Virginia. With your help, the farm can be acquired and 99-year leasehold interest can be conveyed to Garden Variety Harvests to produce chemical-free vegetables, flowers and fruits using regenerative methods.

Cameron Terry, a Black farmer, has been producing food for the Roanoke community on borrowed and leased urban yards since 2017, and deserves equitable land security for the duration of his farming career.

Taking urban land into the commons with the goal of restorative food production is revolutionary work. Once this project is complete, this piece of land will never be bought or sold again, and will forever remain in ecologically sound food production.

The Project

Right now, in the heart of Roanoke, there are 3.5 urban acres of existing farmland available for purchase. This parcel is located in a food desert, in a city where 17 percent of its residents are food-insecure and 24 percent reside in a food desert. In a city that needs access to healthy and nutritional food, this land is the ideal location for a farm that produces market gardens.

With your help, funds can be raised to complete the project, with this land centering community and becoming a space for public agricultural engagement and education, in addition to growing produce for local consumption. This project will also provide land security and tenure for next-generation farmers, supporting small-scale food production and habitat diversity while countering high rates of prime farmland loss.

The project entails purchasing the property, as well as infrastructure and buildings costs that include:

• 3.5 acres of farmland and buildings
• Public walking trails
• Community space for gathering and harvest festivals
• Community commercial kitchen and teaching area
• 6 growing beds for fruits and vegetables
• Stone fruit orchard and raspberry patches
• 2 high-tunnel greenhouses and 1 caterpillar tunnel
• 1 propagation greenhouse
• Refrigerated food-storage area
• Wash station and packing area for:
  • CSA distribution and pickup
  • Farmers’ market packing
  • Mobile market operations/distribution food to fourteen low-income areas

_{*Some of the above infrastructure items are being paid for with funds from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and are detailed below:}

Financial Summary

We are working with several community partners to raise funds together. Below is a detailed description of the funds needed, and where other funds are coming from in a true community effort to create this local food system.

Real Estate Acquisition                                                           $180,000
Project and Closing Costs                                                         $34,100
Equipment and Infrastructure                                                  $14,950
Property Repair, Improvements, and Investments                $137,200
Farm Endowment and Reserves                                              $60,000

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Total Project Cost                              $426,250

Download Full Financial Details

Thank you to the following partners and funders: