This summer, three agriculture students were awarded the 2023 Cynthia Hayes Memorial Scholarship for their dedication in advancing racial equity in the food and farm system within the United States.
Cynthia Hayes was an advocate for sustainable agriculture and Black and Indigenous people living and working in agriculture. Her journey began on her grandmother’s farm in Kentucky, learning about her family’s eight decades of tobacco farming history.
With her generational history so strong and her value of it so deep, Hayes dedicated her life to play an impactful role in the industry. Hayes established the first network for African American organic farmers in the U.S., called the Southeastern African American Farmers’ Organic Network (SAAFON). She passed away in 2016.
SAAFON’s mission is to maintain a network of Black and Indigenous farmers who are committed to culturally relevant, ancestrally guided, and ecologically sustainable agricultural-based-living. Working with farming families who have been dedicated agriculturalists, some for almost 100 years, SAAFON tasks itself with each project to promote the agriculture production and land management practices of those Black and Indigenous farming families they represent.
The Cynthia Hayes Memorial Scholarship pays tribute to Hayes and her outstanding leadership in sustainable agriculture and racial equity in and out of SAAFON.
“The Cynthia Hayes Memorial Scholarship honors the substantial impact of Cynthia Hayes’ work, ” shares Whitney Jaye, Co-Director and Director of Strategic Programmatic Development at SAAFON, “but in her immense contributions to building a sustainable agriculture movement that visibilizes the brilliance of Black Farmers.”
To encourage the spirit and progression of Hayes’ spirit. SAAFON, the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), and the Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) continues to advertise this scholarship to young people in post-secondary education whose educational journey works toward similar racial equity and community connection goals as Hayes.
Now in its sixth year, the scholarship aims to support Black and Indigenous students who are pursuing a Bachelor of Environmental Science degree, preferably, and are an affiliated member of their local MANRRS chapter. Students must also have a strong interest in grassroots organizing, movement building, and a commitment to promoting racial equity in food and farm systems.
This year’s winners of the scholarship are:
- Zymora Davinchi, Public Communications and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies graduate and master’s student in Public Health at the University of Vermont.
- Miles Lee, Agriculture and Environmental Systems major at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical University.
- Rodnisha Owens, student at Virginia State University with a strong culinary background.
Each scholarship recipient progresses the story of agriculture. Each has a passion, in their own way, for sustainable agriculture and the momentum of Black and Indigenous people in agriculture. And each will receive $5,000 awards in support of their studies.
“We are privileged and honored to acknowledge these three outstanding student leaders who embody Cynthia Hayes’ passion for racial equity and sustainable agriculture,” Kelsey Watson, Grassroots Co-Director at NSAC said in a news release addressing the scholarship. “Hayes collaborated closely with NSAC as we purposefully sought to support the next generation of leaders of color in the sustainable food movement.”
The scholarship fund has increased from $1,000 (2019), to $3,000 (2021), and now the award being $5,000 (2023). This increase not only attests to the organizations’ investment in the future of agriculture, but the local, state, and national impact these students’ passions and ideas can have on people of color in agriculture and the people of color who are consumers of this industry.
It is encouraged that any student who wishes to make an impact in agriculture through sustainability and/or racial equity should apply. Not only that, but when they receive this scholarship, the vestment should be reciprocated with action. Students should use the confidence this scholarship provides to uplift their self-efficacy in their chosen field and elevate their mission to make even more of a difference than they could ever imagine.
Bre Holbert is a past National FFA President and studied agriculture science and education at California State-Chico. “Two ears to listen is better than one mouth to speak. Two ears allow us to affirm more people, rather than letting our mouth loose to damage people’s story by speaking on behalf of others.”
