Taking up space
In Harlem, a Black farmer coalition builds a brick-and-mortar market — and a gathering place
| 26 Mar 2026 | 03:10
A volunteer at the Corbin Hill farmstand.
Black Farmer Ecosystem members and friends at the Corbin Hill farmstand in Harlem.
Apples grown by farmer David Haughton of Trinity Farms in Ulster County, NY. Originally from Jamaica, Haughton immigrated to New York as anapple picker before buying his own farm. He’s one of many Black farmers across New York State who work with Ecosystem partners to move produce.
Cherries grown by David Haughton of Trinity Farms, one many Black farmers that Corbin Hill Food Project partners with across New York State. Last year, Haughton had an influx of cherries. Corbin Hill was able to move them by rallying the community to pre-sell and connecting to local NYC businesses and schools to buy them.
Black Farmer Ecosystem members scout out the future Farm Stop & Community Gathering Hub at 140th St. and Frederick Douglass Blvd.
Harlem circa 1926. The literary, artistic, social and cultural awakening known as the Harlem Renaissance burns bright. A century later, a new type of renaissance is cooking in Harlem. This Black-led food revival reaches from upstate farms down to the city in an interconnected network that can move food — and influence — through New York State, from land and training to capital, policy, and, crucially, markets.
This spring, the Black Farmer Ecosystem, a coalition of six food justice organizations, plans to bring that vision a step closer to the status quo with a year-round storefront. The Farm Stop & Community Gathering Hub in Harlem will be part community living room, part infrastructure for a supply chain designed to overcome the dominant system.
“The Ecosystem is greater than just one organization,” said Joanna Dorsey, co-director of Black Farmers United, one of the Ecosystem partners. The other partners are the Black Farmer Fund, Corbin Hill Food Project, Farm School NYC, Northeast Farmers of Color Land Trust and Soul Fire Farm Institute. Together, they’re working toward a simple goal that becomes radical in practice: ensuring Black farmers can drive policy and advocacy, hold capital and land, and control markets.
Dorsey emphasizes what the market will mean for farmers. Black Farmers United is a member-led organization of 150 Black farmers across New York State, and this storefront represents one of the most stubborn missing links — reliable access to a market that is culturally relevant, values Black-grown products, and can grow with farmers over time.
The Ecosystem’s origin story dates back to the churn of 2020. Funders often treated Black-led organizations with aligned missions as competitors rather than collaborators, explained Ecosystem manager Olivia Carter. Instead of building parallel tracks toward the same destination, the Ecosystem began with the question: what if we shared infrastructure, coordinated fundraising, and stopped pretending scarcity was a strategy?
Carter describes a collective decision to build something “by us, for us,” rooted in relationship — an “affinity space” where partners could address the specific barriers Black farmers face, from capital to market access. The point wasn’t to invent cooperation but to practice it at scale, and keep practicing it long enough to become a solid foundation for growth.
“It’s going to take longer than what you expect,” said Carter. The work requires partners and funders who understand that rebuilding a system isn’t a three-year project, but a long-haul commitment.
The spring 2026 launch date signals intention, not instant gratification. The storefront isn’t meant to be a one-off victory, but a dynamic node in a larger network. It’s less about opening day than about who holds the keys after the ribbon gets tossed, the photos get posted, and the neighborhood keeps changing around them.
The storefront will be located at 140th Street and Frederick Douglass Boulevard in Harlem. Location here isn’t just about branding or foot traffic — it carries history. Harlem is imbued with the cultural memory of Black flourishing, and it’s also a neighborhood facing relentless gentrification, said Dorsey.
To “take up space” there, with Black-led food infrastructure, is “culturally relevant” in a way that can’t be replicated by dropping a glossy chain store onto a corner.
Ismail Samad of Corbin Hill Food Project explains why Harlem makes sense as a home base. When Black communities talk about “liberated supply chains” and “an emancipated future,” it becomes “a threatening notion to some.”
Because the storefront isn’t just a place to buy greens. It’s a claim: that Black farmers and communities deserve to own the value chain, not merely participate in it.
The storefront plan combines fresh produce and grab-and-go meals, farm shares and value-added products, community space for gatherings, nutrition and culinary education, and even health and social service referrals, with purchasing priorities that spotlight “habitually excluded growers and producers.” Carter frames the market as a third place — a space for conversation, gathering, care and food. Not a sterile aisle-to-checkout routine, but something closer to “coming into your family’s living room to be nourished and cared for.”