Amber Tamm: A Brooklyn Native Who Found The Land Through Trauma and Now Shares Her Experiences As A Black Farmer While Sharing The Importance of Regenerative Agriculture Rooted In Indigenous Wisdom

In a world where Black female farmers aren’t talked about, celebrated or funded enough, it’s refreshing to hear the raw story and work of Amber Tamm. In this short but poignant interview, Tamm shares her authentic truth of how she became a farmer and how this work is rooted in Black trauma but also Black and humanity liberation.

CHECK OUT THIS INTERVIEW:

When and why did you become a farmer?

My pathway to becoming a farmer is one that in non-linear, recent and rooted in trauma and childhood dreams. As a little girl, growing up Brooklyn, I knew I wanted to farm and work in green spaces but had no context as to what that looks like. As I grew older, I found that this yearning for this work was still lingering but I didn’t reveal it outwardly due to having no pathways as to how to even enter this field. In highschool, I decided to apply for colleges with my career goal being “humanitarian” because that was the closest socially acceptable term for me to be able to finally work with momma earth. I was only in college for a short period of time before I actually started my farm journey. What catapulted me there was losing my parents. My father murdering my mother left me at the age of 18 needing housing, income, food and healing - farming provided me with all of these things. On a deeper level, I found that putting my mother’s body in the earth, the earth literally became my mother and so when farming I am communing with my mom, I am tapping into our connection which lives on through the soil.

What has your experience been like as a Black Woman Farmer?

In all honesty, there are so many words that come to mind - honorable, uncomfortable, engaging, lonely, divine, triggering, raw, etc - I could go on and on. To give a rough overview, I’d say to have entered this industry with my heart broken from losing my parents (personal trauma/oppression), to then run into the problematic history of black farmers (ancestral trauma/environmental racism), to then run into the current state of the food system (climate change/climate grief/capitalism) its been hard, it’s felt like I am unpacking the deep, dark history of America. It is now my truth that if you want to know about the truth about a place, look up there agricultural history and current food system, everything will be revealed there.

But on the other hand, this experience has been so rewarding. To travel America working with different soils and learning this about this food system by being a part of it has truly gifted me some deep insights and revelations. I can fully say farming, working with the earth, is what I am here to do and what brings me joy. Farming in this body, this nappy headed, brown skinned, feminine body makes its all the more worth it. It can be lonely, due to the lack of black women in this industry. I fully understand that I along with the few others that are black women farmers are currently creating the pathway for more young black farmers to come. I am honored that this is the work I am doing in this life time, It’s hard, I experience burn out but there is nothing else I could honestly see myself doing right now, this is my passion, my whole heart, my everything.

Define regenerative agriculture:

The textbook answer is:

“Regenerative Agriculture is a system of farming principles and practices that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystem services.”

To me regenerative agriculture is the future of food, the new and improved term for organic, the answer the climate change and harmony for momma earth. A lot of regenerative agricultural practices come from indigenous wisdom and ancient agricultural knowledge. These practices enforce a model for the production of food while promoting the resurgence of ecosystems and lowering carbon in the atmosphere. Regenerative ag, is the answer, its always been the answer. Black and brown people have always produced food this way, it wasn’t until colonization that food started to be produced differently.

Right now there is a regenerative movement happening within the agriculture realm which I define as people coming together for the sake of future generations of all beings (plants, animals, water, etc), paving the way to make their abundance, their lives, their traditions, their lineage to be available for years to come.

What are some tips you can give to the Black community to begin what may seem like a scary or unattainable approach of growing their own food?

I’d first encourage them to understand that growing food is something every single human on this planet knows how to do, we are all descendants of farmers and ancient peoples who grew and processed their own food. I’d encourage them to walking into producing food by embarking on a trial and error process, this makes the learning experience personalized in a way that learning from other experienced growers can not. Lastly, I’d tell them that growing your own food is one of the most revolutionary actions one can do during the climate. Growing your own food as a black person promotes sovereignty, something that we have never truly had since our ancestors arrived here on slave ships. Having control over your food, is having control over your health, your life and your future lineage.