Radical Resource and Land Fund

2025 Radical Resource & Land Fund

The 2025 RR&LF Part 1 Application period is open and accepting submissions through Friday, April 11 at 9:00am Central Standard Time. If you would like to request a copy of the Part 1 Application, please email fund@midwestfarmersofcolor.org

We will be holding a live Zoom session on Thursday, March 27, from 6:00pm - 7pm CST to share more about the fund and answer any questions. The session will be held in English and live interpreted in Spanish, Hmong and Somali. The session will also be recorded for those who are unable to make the live session. Please email fund@midwestfarmersofcolor.org to register for the live session or request the recording.

If you have any questions about the fund or the application process, please reach out to fund@midwestfarmersofcolor.org.

Answers to ongoing questions will be posted in a periodically updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) doc. 

Why a land fund? 

Land access has been a primary issue identified by farmers since our first convening in 2020 and in many listening sessions, surveys, and conversations since. The vast majority of farmers in our network don't own the land they farm on, a reality that leaves most of us making expensive investments in soil we don't own and having to start over when the land is sold by its owners.

Land ownership and long-term land access are critical for reconnecting our communities to the land as stewards and protectors, for building farm infrastructure and land-use planning, healing damaged land & building investments in soil health, and the economic security that comes with land ownership. We continue to advocate for equity in land access resources in the Farm Bill and in other government policy, and we've decided to develop a fund to support our vision of food & agriculture. 

Advisory Circle and Investment Circle Members

Angela Dawson

Founder and CEO, Minnesota Black Farmers Association and 40 Acre Co-op

Advisory Circle Member and Investment Circle Member 

Angela Dawson is a fourth-generation Midwest farmer who has several degrees and certificates in business management. She has a passion for equity, education, agriculture, and public health and over twenty years of cooperative business development, public health advocacy, and fundraising experience. She has been a cooperative business developer focusing on food security in urban markets for over ten years, including serving as the director for the Northside Food Project, which included developing a neighborhood farmer’s market and providing nutrition education and cooking demonstrations. Before founding the co-op, becoming a full-time farmer, and providing technical assistance and training to other farmers, Angela was a public health researcher, academic writer, and law student.

Aaron Blyth

Agricultural Program Director, Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC)

Advisory Circle Member and Investment Circle Member

Aaron helps direct LEDC’s Agricultural Program working to secure grants, managing the program budget, and coordinating LEDC’s Agricultural training activities including; business technical assistance to farmers, loan application assistance, marketing assistance, and in-field technical assistance. Aaron also helps to build key partnerships with other farming and government organizations involved in creating pathways for success to Minnesota’s Latino agricultural entrepreneurs. Aaron started working in Organic vegetable production in 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Santa Cruz’s Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems’ Apprenticeship program in Ecological Horticulture. Aaron spent over 8 years working and managing Organic vegetable farms in Oregon and Minnesota. He spent 6 years as the farm manager of Big River Farms, an Organic vegetable training farm that works with emerging and immigrant farmers. Most recently, he spent 5 years as the Director of Shared Ground Farmers’ Cooperative, a majority-owned Latino marketing cooperative in St. Paul, MN. As a white employee of a Latino organization, Aaron is inspired to do this work for two reasons. First, he is consistently in awe of the vision, dedication, and wisdom Latino agricultural entrepreneurs bring to rural Minnesota. Secondly, Aaron wants to see a thriving Minnesota agricultural economy and believes deeply that the future of a healthy rural Minnesota depends on the energy and passion of the growing Latino community that has made rural Minnesota it’s home.

Friendly Vang-Johnson

Founder, Friendly Hmong Farms

Advisory Circle Member and Investment Circle Member

Friendly co-founded and operates Friendly Hmong Farms and the PNW BIPOC Farmland Trust, leveraging her 20+ years of experience in community organizing, advocacy, and public policy. Her work to advance food sovereignty, land reparations, and racial justice is informed and shaped by a childhood growing up in the Frogtown neighborhood; farming in the summers, and at the markets with her mom and grandmothers. She holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of MN-Humphrey Institute. She and her partner of 29 years parent four kiddos in Hopkins, MN. 

Kladé Hare Nersasian

Chief Loan Officer, Rochdale Capital

Investment Circle Member

Kladé serves as Rochdale Capital's Chief Loan Officer and is responsible for sourcing loan transactions that align with the mission of the organization, to support co-op and community development in under-resourced areas nationwide.  Ms. Hare has over 13 years of experience working with community development and non-profit organizations.  Prior to joining Rochdale Capital, Ms. Hare was the Director of Lending at the National Housing Trust where she oversaw new business development, loan underwriting, and product development.

Patty Viafara

Director of Worker Owner Initiative, Nexus Community Partners

Investment Circle Member

Patty joined Nexus to lead the Worker Owner Initiative (WOI), which is part of Nexus’ Community Wealth Building Strategy. She helps companies assess employee ownership as a model for stronger businesses and create employee and community wealth. The vision is to raise awareness of these models so that business ownership, quality jobs, and community self-determination are accessible to all of us. Patty been working with small businesses and nonprofits for over 14 years in a variety of roles, primarily focused on the people side of operational change. She has worked with over 30 companies at various stages in their journey to employee-ownership. She truly takes pride and joy in helping groups envision and implement their future. Patty was born in Colombia to biracial parents and counts over 40 first cousins. She draws from personal experience growing up in Miami, Florida where 54% of the population is foreign born, and has learned that she can find common ground with just about anyone. In her free time, she enjoys paddleboarding, hiking, hand-building pottery, singing, dancing and spending time with her family and dog Stella.

Zoe Hollomon

Midwest Farmers of Color Collective Executive Director

Advisory Circle Member and Investment Circle Member

Zoe Hollomon is a multi-racial black, queer, activist and abolitionist. She is the eldest of 3 siblings and comes from a long line of freedom fighters. Zoe was born in Duluth, MN but grew up mainly in NY (Buffalo and NYC). Zoe has over 20 years' experience organizing with grassroots organizations on the East Coast and Midwest, building organizations to influence decision-making in food, farming and environmental related policy. Zoe is a founding member of Rootsprings Farm & Retreat Cooperative in MN, which produces fruit and is a place for healing retreat for BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people and organizations. Zoe is a proud co-founder and Executive Director of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective and directs the organization’s policy work, fundraising and land fund development. She is humbled and amazed by the ingenuity, courage and wisdom of the farmers and cultivators she organizes with. Zoe serves on the Union of Concerned Scientists Transformational Farm Bill Advisory Committee, with other partner organizations fighting for a just transition of our food and agricultural systems. She has worked served on the Homegrown Minneapolis Food Policy Council and does consulting in Racial Equity in Food Systems. She is a visual artist and proud member of the Subversive Sirens, a MN based Synchronized Swimming team committed to black liberation, equity in aquatics, queer visibility and radical body acceptance. Zoe received her B.S. in Urban & Regional Planning from Cornell University in 2001 and an M.S. from Southern New Hampshire University in Community Economic Development in 2007.

 

 

Janssen Hang

Executive Director of Hmong American Farmers Association, Minnesota

Advisory Circle Member

Janssen Hang is the Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Hmong American Farmers Association (HAFA). He grew up growing, harvesting and selling vegetables for the local food economy and currently runs his family-owned value-added business making spring rolls and egg rolls at the downtown Saint Paul Farmers Market. A 2001 Saint Olaf graduate in Biology and Asian Studies, Janssen has over 20 years of experience in agriculture, 12 years in small business management, and 7 years as a licensed-real estate agent. Janssen is also one among just a few certified Hmong Mekongs (cultural broker). Janssen likes to spend his free time with his family outdoors.

Rodrigo Cala

Owner of Cala Farms & Ag Trainer at LEDC

Advisory Circle Member

Rodrigo Cala is an experienced farmer in WI. He grew up in a farm family near Mexico City which grew broccoli and cauliflower. The family operated a vending booth at the Centro de Abastos in Mexico City, which is a huge wholesale market. He moved from Mexico to Minnesota in 1996.

After graduating from the Minnesota Food Association three-year training program for immigrant farmers near Marine on St. Croix, Minnesota, Rodrigo and his brother purchased their own farm. The training included classroom sessions and three years of growing experience on the incubator farm.At the Latino Economic development Center (LEDC), Rodrigo is responsible for developing and delivering an agricultural training program for beginning Latino farmers. He provides the technical steps in raising a broad variety of vegetables to guide beginning farmers as they launch farms businesses. He delivers classroom training sessions to new farmers and farmer cooperatives. In addition, Rodrigo provides on-site consulting to each group in the initial year of production and ongoing support in succeeding years. He has also provided guidance to farmer cooperatives in the management of their businesses in collaboration with LEDC. 

Mhonpaj Lee

Mhonpaj’s Garden, Emerging Farmer Trainer & Realtor

Advisory Circle Member

Mhonpaj is an experienced farmer and realtor broker who opened up Inspired Access Realty to help families achieve land ownership, homestead and new construction in MN. Mhonpaj also provides network resources for first time home buyers. She has a Masters Degree in Leadership and a Bachelors in Political Science, as well as a degree in Health Education. She strives to educate others about organic growing and runs a show on Hmong TV educating communities about living an organic lifestyle. Mhonpaj’s Garden is a 9-acre certified organic vegetable farm owned by Mhonpaj and her mother May. With 22 acres in Hugo, MN and additional plots in Stillwater, MN and Marine on St. Croix, May, Mhonpaj and their family grow a variety of vegetables, and plant starts and herbs offered through their CSA share and at markets.

In 1980, Mhonpaj immigrated with her family to the United States from Loas as refugees. Her parents started working on conventional farms as laborers, but when her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer after working with pesticides in the United States, the family decided to start farming organically. Mhonpaj was connected with the Minnesota Food Association (MFA) and learned about their new Immigrant Agriculture Program, now the Big River Farms Incubator Program. Mhonpaj and her mother May were accepted into the three-year program, which gave them access to a 60-acre certified organic incubator farm, Big River Farm, and connected them with a Hmong-speaking Coordinator who helped them find resources and answer questions about organic farming.

In 2010, Mhonpaj’s Garden became the first Hmong-owned certified organic farm in Minnesota, and May and Mhonpaj continue to be leaders in the organic and emerging farmer communities. Both serve in planning roles with the Emerging Farmers Conference and in numerous other ways supporting small farmers. Mhonpaj is a Realtor, helping farmers navigate land access, and May educates the community as an expert Gardener and volunteer for Ramsey County and as Farm Operations Specialist at Big River Farms. She and her family also share their culinary heritage through cooking demonstrations and classes.

Sophia Benrud

Co-Founder & Coordination Team Member, Midwest Farmers of Color Collective, Co-founder of Divine Natural Ancestry

Advisory Circle Member

  Sophia Benrud is a Black multiracial queer community organizer, postpartum doula and chef currently residing in Minneapolis, MN. Sophia is a co-founder of the Midwest Farmers of Color Collective and has been on the Coordination Team, MFCC’s leadership team, since the organization started. Sophia was the Environmental Justice Organizer and a co-founder of Black Visions, a Black-led Queer & Trans centering organization committed to strengthening community and community led safely —building connections between BIPOC climate and environmental, food, and healing justice. 

Sophia is committed to transforming the current movement by centering communities directly impacted by these issues while building stronger movements to break down systemic violence; Sophia is a co-founder of Divine Natural Ancestry, a project that supports community through tools, supplies and knowledge for growing food in BIPOC communities. Sophia is a board member of Spiral Collective an organization supporting people in reproduction, abortion and loss.  Sophia has facilitated youth projects and programs focused on environmental justice through the Sierra Student Coalition. Sophia lives in the Frogtown Neighborhood in St. Paul, MN with their partner Heidi, their dog Hazel, and several backyard chickens.

Vong Thao

Thoj Farm, Farmer, Program Officer, Rooted Philanthropic

Advisory Circle Member

Vong is a Peony Farmer in Mora, MN. During the Spring and early Summer weekends, he spends his time tending to his two acre farm of peonies, specializing in selected color varieties such as white, pink, red, and coral. As a 2nd generation US farmer, Vong takes pride in his agriculture endeavors and would like to be a more sustainable agriculture producer for years to come.

In the mid 2000’s, he was a Project Technician for the USDA-Farm Service Agency. Vong began his career assisting farmers to navigate federal farm programs in the Pacific Northwest. Thereafter, he joined Kraft Foods, now Mondelez, as a Sales Rep overseeing southern parts of Minnesota. Later in life, he joined a few nonprofits in Minnesota developing their Economic Development departments by building out their business technical assistance and lending services. He spent over 5 years with municipalities overseeing multimillion dollar development projects and managing business loan portfolios for the City of Saint Paul and City of Brooklyn Center. 

He is also a Program Officer at Rooted Philanthropic, providing resources to East St. Paul’s community based organizations.

Vong has a Bachelor of Arts in Society Ethics and Human Behavior from the University of Washington and a Master in Business Administration from the City University of Seattle. Vong also holds an Economic Development Financial Professional Certification from the National Development Council and is currently in pursuit of an Economic Developer Certification from the International Economic Development Council. He was selected as a presenter for Enactus representing City University of Seattle in 2010, Kraft Diversity Council in 2011, Community in the Capital fellow with National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development in 2017, Emerging Leader Mentorship Program in 2018, an Emerging Brooklyn Center Leadership Fellow in 2022 and completed the Shannon Leadership Institute in 2022. Vong is on the board of Hmong Cultural Center, serving as Treasurer.

 

 

 

 

Kat Gilje

MFCC Land Fund Fundraising & Development Consultant

Advisory Circle Member

Kat Gilje is the founder of Juniper Consulting. She served as the Executive Director of Ceres Trust, a private foundation that supports healthy and resilient farms, forests and communities; and the ecosystems upon which we all depend.  Before joining Ceres Trust, Kat was co–director of Pesticide Action Network North America; co–founder and organizer with Centro Campesino; and senior associate at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. She received her organizing training through the Voices for Racial Justice apprenticeship program, and from the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, Gamaliel Foundation, and Center for Third World Organizing. Kat serves on the steering committee of Justice Funders; the Health and Environmental Funders Network; the Funder Allies Caucus of the Building Equity and Alignment for Impact (BEA for Impact) network; and the Integrated Rural Strategies Group of the Neighborhood Funders Group. Kat graduated from the University of Minnesota’s College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences and studies with the Interfaith Chaplaincy Institute, with spiritual direction from the Oakland Peace Center’s Reverend Sandhya Jha.

 

 

Consulting and Mentoring Partners:

Juniper Consulting, Kat Gilje (Resource Generation Consultant)(see above)

Potlikker Capital, Mark Watson & Team

Feed Black Futures, Co-Directors, Ali Anderson, Sophi Wilmore

Manzanita Capital, Mariela Cedeño & Anthony Chang

National Black Food Justice Alliance, Kenya Crummel

 

Support: 

This effort is supported by the Ceres Trust, Manzanita Capital, Liberating Investment for Food Ecosystems (LIFE), the No Regrets Initiative, the 11th Hour Project, the Regenerative Agriculture Foundation, and other donors and investors. Stay tuned for more updates and for more information, please contact Zoe@midwestfarmersofcolor.org