MEDINA, Minn. — Second Harvest Heartland estimates 1 in 6 people in Minnesota are experiencing food insecurity, and that number rises to 1 in 4 among Black Minnesotans.
Combating this is farmer Marcus Carpenter and his organization called Route 1.
"Today is an exciting day," Carpenter said Wednesday as a semi truck ended its more than 20-hour route from Massachusetts to Medina in rural Hennepin County.
Its arrival marks a new beginning for Carpenter and BIPOC farmers working on land he leases to them.
"We are getting our very first Freight Farm," he said. "The crane's going to take the freight farm off the back of the truck."
Based in Boston, Freight Farms supplies farmers in 41 countries worldwide with a freight container so they can grow food inside it instead of on large swaths of land.
"These shipping containers … they end up either in the ocean or in some junk yard, and so what we're able to do with Freight Farms is use these containers," Carpenter explained.
Route 1 will care for the unit year-round, making it the first Black-owned freight farm in Minnesota, Carpenter says.
"Not only does this freight farm give us the ability to grow over 200 pounds of fresh produce per week, but it also gives us the ability to bring in youth who may have not had an opportunity to experience agriculture," he said.
Already, Route 1's MN Seeds to Success Youth Academy provides young people with hands-on agricultural and leadership education.
According to the National Black Farmers Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture long denied Black farmers government loans and subsidies. Today, the USDA Census of Agriculture reports less than 1 percent of Minnesota farmers are Black, and Route 1 says that's contributing to food insecurity and health problems in Black communities.
The modern method of freight farming is meant to change that.
"It gives us an opportunity to take good, clean, culturally relevant, nutritious food and place it right down in the middle of some of our food deserts in our low to medium income areas," Carpenter said. "The food that's specifically grown here will go to south Hopkins, Minnesota."
Once the produce is ready in a few weeks, the south Hopkins community will be able to find it at Route 1 farmer's market located in Valley Park.
Headquartered in Madison, American Family Insurance has a social impact initiative and is funding Route 1's freight farm.
"Part of what makes Route 1 so incredible is that they do take this multigenerational approach to their farming," said Nyra Jordan, social impact investment director for AmFam Institute. "That's why this partnership is so important to us - closing these equity gaps across our country particularly Minnesota."
Back in Boston, Carpenter attended a training to get ready for the freight, although farming already comes easily to him because of his roots.
"My great grandmother, Sally Carpenter, she bought our first 20 acres of land back in 1914 in northeast Arkansas," he said. "She was able to grow that land with my grandfather to 180 acres. I'm a 4th generation farm kid, and I just feel very blessed."
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