Reversing food-land relationships in the city: Insights from the Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship Program

Abstract

The Seeding East Buffalo Fellowship (SEBF) pro­gram, co-founded by community and academic organizations from Buffalo, NY in 2022, supported residents in Buffalo’s Black neighborhoods to grow their own food, emerge as urban agriculture (UA) leaders, and engage in and advocate for UA policy. This article reflects on the lessons learned from this pilot program. The authors, all of whom are either co-founders or team members of the SEBF program, drew from field notes and qualitative interviews with SEBF growers in this article. Key lessons for policy change are that programs must be rooted in the community’s history, pedagogical strategies must be tailored to the local context, and long-term relationships must be fostered. . . .