Help us Preserve the Farm!

Update, November 2024

Monique Pierre was fired from her position as CEO of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville on November 7, according to an article by BPR News. In addition to her deeply harmful response to HACA residents during Hurricane Helene, Ms. Pierre wrote and championed Resolution No. 2024-11 which proposed to dismantle Southside Community Farm. The interim CEO of HACA has stated that dismantling the farm is “not a priority” in an interview with BPR News. While we do not yet have concrete answers about the future of the farm, we are optimistic that new leadership will see the value of this beautiful space and will be willing to work with Southside Community Farm leadership to preserve the farm and the vital resources it provides.

Southside Community Farm (SCF) is at risk of losing access to the land we have stewarded for ten years. This land is legally owned by the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville (HACA). A resolution (Resolution No. 2024-11) has been brought to HACA’s board of directors by [now former] CEO Monique Pierre, which would dismantle the farm and replace it with additional playground space. The resolution includes false, unsubstantiated claims about Southside Community Farm, including that the farm has caused “rodents and infestation” in the Edington Center, and that the farm does not provide a “significant enough” benefit to HACA residents. These claims have been refuted by community members and experts alike, including in this letter written by the Center for Environmental Farming Systems. Thus far, the HACA board has not voted on Resolution 2024-11, and therefore the fate of our farmland has not been determined. With all the public support Southside Community Farm has received, we hope that they will not vote in favor of the resolution.

In a neighborhood without a grocery store, Southside Community Farm is the only place to access fresh, healthy food. Southside residents deserve access to more community resources, not the destruction of what already exists. We want HACA to preserve Southside Community Farm, to NOT pass this resolution, and to work with the land’s current caretakers to ensure that the community has long-term access to vital resources the farm provides.

Southside Community Farm co-founder Musa Fardan speaks about why the farm is important to him and his neighborhood

Ways to Support Southside Community Farm

Reparations

  • Black mutual aid work and land stewardship shouldn’t be chronically under-resourced.
    Donate here.
  • We need access to land that we cannot be displaced from and which serves as intergenerational wealth for our community. Support us through offering connections, land, wealth, or creative solutions to help us secure permanent farmland.

Sign the Petition

  • Add your voice and urge HACA to preserve the farm here.

Read and Learn

  • Read our Farm Blog to understand our history, our place in community, and our dreams of the future.
  • Read the letter to HACA that the SCF leadership wrote here, and read our staff’s full public comment from the April 24 HACA board meeting here (we were not permitted to share our full public comment at the board meeting).
  • Check out the rest of our website to learn more about what we do, follow us on social media, and join our newsletter.

Write a Letter of Support

  • Find guidelines for writing your own letter of support for SCF here. Letters of support can be written by groups of people, by organizations, or by individuals.
  • Don’t have time to write your own letter? Sign and send a pre-drafted letter of support here.

Share with Others!

  • Share info with your friends and neighbors.
  • Help us connect with people with the privilege to influence our situation.

Volunteer

  • Sign up to volunteer your skills and get occasional updates about farm events, support needs, and other happenings here.