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KOLUMN Magazine

Black Farmers, African American News, Black News, Urban News, African American Newspaper, Black Newspaper, African American Magazine, Black Magazine, African American History, Black History, African American Wealth, Black Wealth, African American Health, Black Health, African American Economics, Black Economics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN Books, KINDR'D Magazine, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, African American Art, Black Art, African American Politics, Black Politics, African American City, Black City, African American People, Black People, Allegory, Segregation, Racism, Reparations, 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Black Farmers, African American News, Black News, Urban News, African American Newspaper, Black Newspaper, African American Magazine, Black Magazine, African American History, Black History, African American Wealth, Black Wealth, African American Health, Black Health, African American Economics, Black Economics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN Books, KINDR'D Magazine, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, African American Art, Black Art, African American Politics, Black Politics, African American City, Black City, African American People, Black People, Allegory, Segregation, Racism, Reparations, 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Photo, Konda Mason, founder of Jubilee Justice, gathers rice chaff after threshing. Alexandria, Louisiana. (Photo courtesy of Jubilee Justice).

SOUTHERN BLACK FARMERS SOW RICE AND RECONCILIATION

Jubilee Justice grows rice regeneratively while reclaiming the past.
In the heart of Louisiana, about 100 miles north of Baton Rouge, lies the rain-soaked farm that lured Konda Mason away from California in 2020. Reflecting on her journey to the South, the entrepreneur and spiritual teacher has no regrets about relocating from Oakland to the small city of Alexandria to start growing rice. She chuckles while explaining how she got there: in an RV with two loved ones and two dogs. But a hint of frustration creeps into her voice when she talks about the weather.
Black Farmers, African American News, Black News, Urban News, African American Newspaper, Black Newspaper, African American Magazine, Black Magazine, African American History, Black History, African American Wealth, Black Wealth, African American Health, Black Health, African American Economics, Black Economics, KOLUMN Magazine, KOLUMN Books, KINDR'D Magazine, Black Lives, Black Lives Matter, African American Art, Black Art, African American Politics, Black Politics, African American City, Black City, African American People, Black People, Allegory, Segregation, Racism, Reparations, 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
Photo, Jubilee Justice Specialty Foods co-op members. Top row, left to right: James Coleman, Roy Mosley, Hilery Gobert, Collie Graddick, and CJ Fields. Bottom row, left to right: Jose Gonzalez, Konda Mason, Bernard Singleton, and visiting farmer Rodney Mason (not a member of the co-op). (Photo courtesy of Jubilee Justice).
“Right now, it’s too wet for us to get into the field with a tractor,” she explained the night after a thunderstorm this summer. “We’ve had very few days where we can go into the field so far this year, and that is problematic.”
Mason is the founder of Jubilee Justice, a nonprofit that helps small-holder Black farmers in the South grow specialty rice with the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a “dry-land” method developed in the 1970s and 1980s. Instead of growing rice in flooded paddies to prevent weeds from overtaking the crop, SRI farmers treat rice like a vegetable, irrigating it as needed and using other weed control methods.
Created on Madagascar and practiced in about 60 countries today, SRI has been shown to increase grain yields, sometimes twofold. The method also tackles the significant climate impact of conventional rice production. Methane emissions created by flooded rice paddies account for about 10 percent of global agricultural emissions. That’s because so much rice is grown around the world: Roughly 11 percent of all arable land is devoted to this crop, a daily staple for half the people on Earth.

Celebrating Our Lives