Any conversation about the future of farming eventually hits the issue of land access. Land is expensive, and within the market system a parcel of land will typically sell to the highest bidder– making existing farmland susceptible to development. But taking farmland out of private ownership can stabilize farmland and ensure it serves the community for generations. Our guests will share about the Farmland Commons model and what it looks like on the ground in East Knoxville, Tennessee.
The Taproot Podcast is an initiative of the Midwest Transition to Organic Partnership Program, a project funded by the USDA National Organic Program to support transitioning and organic producers with mentorship and technical assistance and to grow the greater organic community. Learn more at organictransition.org.
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Guest Bios
Femeika Elliot Femeika loves speaking passionately about transforming your everyday dishes into healthy masterpieces using fresh ingredients to uplift the lifestyle of others. She started her health foods brand Meik Meals, in 2019 and continued to pivot in the entrepreneurial scene to address major health crisis within the black community such as mental health, postpartum medical and food apartheid becoming the founder of The Lotus Program Experience and the Rooted East Knoxville Collective. Femeika brings her background of 6 years in whole foods education, sacred medicine and ancestral practice with over 10 years in the social work field serving marginalized and underrepresented communities. Femeika founded Rooted East Knoxville to address the inequities of the American food system; recreating the food landscape—increasing access for East Knoxville residents. She enjoys being a social justiceprenuer and advocates for marginalized communities as Black health, liberation and restoration remains at the forefront of her vision.
Ian McSweeney comes from generations of immigrants, refugees, activists, abolitionists, and colonists from southeastern Massachusetts. Ian is deeply committed to bringing about innovations to holistically evolve farmland conservation, equity, secure and affordable access and tenure to build community resilience ensuring regenerative, diversified food production that benefits soil, human, and community health. Ian is Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director of The Farmers Land Trust.
