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Meet the farming phd:
Hi, I’m Elisabeth — a farmer, filmmaker, and PhD student studying Rural Sociology and Africana Studies.
I began stewarding land in 2021 after graduating from North Carolina State University with degrees in Poultry Science and International Studies. During my AmeriCorps year on a farm in Tennessee, I fell in love with the earth and began to understand my calling.
It was also there that I witnessed the stark lack of diversity within agricultural spaces. Even with my knowledge of Indigenous agricultural practices like the Three Sisters, and the long history of Black and enslaved people whose labor built American agriculture, the absence of representation felt deeply wrong.
That realization shaped me — and it shaped The Farming PhD. I want to uplift the Indigenous knowledge, stewardship traditions, and BIPOC agriculturalists who have always been part of agriculture. Even in the face of erasure, heirs property loss, discrimination, and marginalization, these farmers endure. And so will I.
I’m The Farming PhD, and I’ll be Black in the garden — creating a safe space for past, present, and future BIPOC agriculturalists who deserve to be seen, heard, and uplifted.
What Am I Currently Up To?
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Rooting in Rich Square
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I continue to deepen relationships with farmers, elders, and community members in Rich Square whose stories and wisdom are shaping the foundation of the farm.
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Learning From the Land
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I am researching soil health, climate patterns, and the ecological needs of the crops and livestock that will anchor the farm’s global agricultural map.
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Growing Community Beyond Place
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Through @thefarmingphd and my documentary work, a wider community is forming—people invested in land, legacy, and food justice.
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Building the Educational Vision
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I am developing the farm’s curriculum rooted in ancestral knowledge, cultural preservation, and land-based healing.
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Community Support & Connection
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As this journey continues, I welcome new community members who can offer support, guidance, or partnership. If you carry knowledge of land access, agricultural traditions, community organizing, or cultural work, your insight is deeply valued. This farm grows through collective care, and every relationship helps shape what it will become.
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My Vision:
The Future Farm
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Mission
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The farm exists to be a community educational space where BIPOC youth, stewards, and community members can learn, heal, and reconnect with land. Rooted in Rich Square, North Carolina—a community shaped by Black agrarian history and my own family’s legacy—the farm is grounded in place, memory, and the ongoing work of building a home for future stewards.
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Its mission is to honor and preserve the agrarian traditions carried by Black and Afro-Indigenous communities, while acknowledging and uplifting the Indigenous peoples whose land we inhabit.
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The farm will serve as a living world map of crops, livestock, agricultural practices, and land-based knowledge carried to the Americas through enslavement, migration, and cultural exchange. By teaching these traditions, the farm works to restore what was stolen, suppressed, or erased, and to ensure that ancestral agricultural knowledge is remembered, credited, and carried forward with care.
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At its core, the mission is to build a safe, nurturing, culturally grounded space where land stewardship, community care, and intergenerational knowledge come together.
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Farm Photos:
