Black Oregon Land Trust: A new model for land justice in Oregon

“In order to address food security, we also have to look at land,” said Qiddist Ashé, founder and executive director of Black Oregon Land Trust (BOLT).

Access to land and access to food are deeply connected. When growers and producers have the resources they need, our food systems are stronger and entire communities benefit from greater access to fresh, culturally familiar foods. That’s why Oregon Food Bank is proud to partner with BOLT. The organization is creating a new model for land justice and food justice in Oregon by returning land to Black and Indigenous farmers, land stewards and growers.

BOLT was founded in 2020 in response to growing awareness of the barriers Black growers and farmers face in Oregon. Black-owned farms account for only 0.5% of total farmland in the U.S. and 0.1% of farmland in Oregon, despite the prior existence of millions of acres of Black farmland. Systemic inequities continue to make it difficult for Black and Indigenous farmers to purchase farmland, with high costs of land and barriers to conventional loans.

“BOLT was started by a group of Black women – mothers, birth workers, farm and food system workers,” said Qiddist. “There was this collective moment of realizing that not only did we want something different for our families and our communities, but that the crumbling around us was an opportunity to see what that could look like. And from that, BOLT was born as a land trust.”

Land trusts acquire and hold land to meet community needs through conservation, farming, housing and long-term stewardship. BOLT focuses specifically on securing agricultural land for Black and Indigenous farmers, land stewards and growers across Oregon. Its work is rooted in community, with a strong focus on mothers and children.

“We’re feeding the community, and we’re teaching the community about where the food comes from,” said Aria. “We’re teaching the children where the food comes from, who are going to be the next generation of the farmers and the land stewards. And it kind of comes back when the people who are in the community getting fed by us or by Oregon Food Bank become farmers and they’re growing food that can come back into those same communities.”

Oregon Food Bank supports BOLT’s work through Rooted + Rising, our $80 million campaign to create a future free from hunger. This partnership has increased BOLT’s visibility as a young, BIPOC-led organization, opened national funding streams, and helped build the staffing and operational infrastructure to sustain its vision. With this support, BOLT is building a future where access to food and land is shaped by justice, not race or income.

“Oregon Food Bank’s support of our work through Rooted + Rising is a powerful statement that one of the root causes and ways we can address hunger goes back before the food is even grown,” said Qiddist.

Today, BOLT stewards 115 acres of land across five sites in Corbett, Oregon. It plans to start an incubator farm, where growers can farm and potentially live on a 45-acre plot of land with long-term leases. BOLT will collaborate with its ecosystem partners like Feed’em Freedom Foundation to aggregate the food produced and provide access to markets, so farmers can build up their businesses.

“There is so much beauty from being able to share tools, mentorship, community, culture, education with each other,” said Qiddist. “And I imagine that this can be a model for other hubs across Oregon and potentially be a model for agricultural land trusts across the nation.”

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