How a Georgia farmer is ensuring a sustainable, safe space for Black residents in a developing 500-acre town

• Wayne Swanson, a Georgia farmer and sustainability expert, is helping develop a new town.
• The town, Freedom, will serve as a safe, sustainable, and self-sufficient space for Black residents.

Georgia-based farmer Wayne Swanson is helping bring a collective vision to life — one that involves transforming over 500 acres of undeveloped land near Toomsboro, Georgia, into a sustainable, safe space for Black residents.

The plan is taking shape after 19 Black families in the metro Atlanta area jointly purchased the sprawling property they hope to turn into a new town called Freedom.

Insider first reported on the project in September 2020, detailing its inception after Ashley Scott, a realtor from Stonecrest, Georgia, and her friend, Renee Walters, saw the opportunity to build a haven for Black community members grappling with nationwide social injustices and unrest amid the pandemic.

This catalyzed the Freedom Georgia Initiative, which, according to its website, aims to promote "self-sufficiency, environmental sustainability, and cooperative economics among BIPOC communities across the African Diaspora globally."

About a year and a half later, the Freedom venture is well underway and making progress.

A blueprint for sustainable farming

Swanson — who has run Swanson Family Farm in Hampton, Georgia, since 2008 — was looped into the project to serve as a consultant for developing sustainable farming operations in the town.

"We just met with the [Natural Resources Conservation Service] about some of the conservation practices we're approved for, and we are working on our overlay maps so we can do our planning," Swanson recently told Insider.

Swanson plans to employ the same sustainability techniques he uses at his farm, including a low stocking-density strategy ("I only put the amount of animals on the land that can be sustained by the land," he explained), composting, relying on livestock in lieu of fertilizers to improve soil, and utilizing rotational, strip, and mob grazing systems.

The blossoming town's environmental makeup and conservation practices will also involve protecting the area's watershed, regenerating soil, and brush clearing to plant an orchard. Eventually, as part of a 10-year plan, the town will include processing facilities, a distribution hub, retail operations, eateries, and homes.

"We want to use every acre of the land," Swanson said. "We want to use everything we can to build sustainable operations and not just put up houses."

The project is one example of Black reformers joining forces to dismantle several decades of systemic discrimination that barred Black farmers and landowners from receiving subsidies, loans, and other forms of governmental assistance. It's also a step toward redressing Black land loss over the past 100 years.

The plight of Black farming and land ownership

Harvard University's 2020 Land Loss and Reparations Project estimated that Black farmers in the South lost 90% of their land in the last century, amounting to a loss of at least $250 billion to $350 billion of accumulated wealth and income.

But, Swanson added, those numbers don't paint the whole picture. A significant portion of Black land loss, as well as maintenance, has been off the record since many Black landowners in the past didn't report the exact amount of property they owned to the government, fearing they'd be dispossessed.

"We watched our neighbors, our cousins, our grandmothers, and grandfathers get their land taken," said Swanson, adding that his family has been able to maintain land since the 1800s.

Much of the racism Black farmers face nowadays also takes place at agricultural processing facilities, Swanson said. "The people that run some of the processing centers are not always happy when they see us thrive," he added.

Swanson said many facility workers have traded in overt racism for sneakier tactics. For example, they'll deliberately botch records of livestock sorting, grading, and packaging from Black-owned farms.

"What they're doing is pushing you to ask questions," Swanson said. "The moment you go in and ask a question is when the argument starts. And then they'll say we're being entitled, arrogant, and boisterous."

Swanson hopes that opening Black-owned processing facilities in Freedom will help eliminate the racial biases that Black farmers experience elsewhere. Additionally, he anticipates creating a community where social sustainability flourishes as Black professionals, leaders, neighbors, and organizations invest in one another. "We are now realizing that we've got to trust us," Swanson said.

He also emphasized the importance of Black-owned farms throughout the US working with community organizations and small businesses to bolster local economies. "You don't want me supplying the whole East Coast or trying to take over the state of Georgia because that's just not sustainable," he said. "There should be a version of me regionally."

Signs of progress in Black landowning

The enriching cultural experience that comes with agricultural development in marginalized communities highlights the nuances of sustainability. While expanding eco-conscious practices is pivotal in the climate fight, it's merely a component in the greater pursuit of creating cleaner, safer, more equitable spaces, especially for communities of color.

"There is a renaissance right now for Black land ownership, like nothing I've ever seen in my lifetime," Swanson said.

Now, he gets frequent phone calls from friends asking for insight on purchasing land — a promising sign that marginalized folks feel more empowered to trust one another, take the reins of proprietorship, and embrace the reclamation of US soil.