WCK funds first of its kind learning center for USVI farmers
Nineteen food-related businesses across the US Virgin Islands and The Bahamas recently received grants through WCK’s Food Producer Network (FPN) – our long-term commitment to support communities disproportionately impacted by climate change by building resilient local food systems and strengthening food security.
WCK’s latest round of funding includes a second grant for Sejah Farm of the Virgin Islands for the creation of an agricultural learning center.
Operated by Yvette and Dale Brown, the multi-faceted farm located on St. Croix raises goats and sheep, poultry and eggs, and grows vegetables for local and off-island demands. Through their onsite farmers market, they support other small farms by aggregating and marketing their production to consumers, wholesale distributors, chefs, and restaurants.
Now, with the second WCK grant, Yvette and Dale will create a first-of-its-kind learning center for producers from the US Virgin Islands to gain the knowledge and skills to grow their business and advance food and nutrition security across the territory. The center is testament to Sejah Farm’s commitment to its community and will provide agricultural technical assistance, education, training, and consultation to other farmers.
Activities at the new learning center will feature in-person classes, as well as screenings of WCK capacity building webinars and regional networking opportunities.
Sejah Farm received its first WCK grant in 2020 to acquire a dual-system cold storage unit – with both a walk-in cooler and freezer – as well as a diesel generator to operate the unit in times of emergency. These purchases not only support Sejah Farm itself, but also neighboring farms to whom they provide free storage space. This opportunity immediately resolved a long-term storage problem and increased production and their ability to aggregate produce from other growers.
We’ll have all the equipment to set up an outdoor learning center for 10 people at a time and it’s going to be open to any farmer on the island who wants to do virtual classes or any of the workshops and seminars that World Central Kitchen has to offer, any kind of farming class that is beneficial for the small farmers in our community.
Yvette Brown
Co-owner of Sejah Farm
Also receiving WCK grants during this latest round of funding in the US Virgin Islands are Healthy Harvest Farm, Joshua Quetel, My Brother’s Workshop, Sugar Brown Farms, Maldonado’s Fishing, NJ’s Fishing, Rico’s Fish Market, Rodgers’ Farm, and the Virgin Islands Farmers Alliance.
The new FPN program partners in The Bahamas are Divine Harvest and Passion Way Farms, as well as the fishing projects Fox Fisheries, God’s Favour, Linda’s Spartan, Seafood Delight, Tates Best Price Ferry, and fisher Alin Desir. WCK also awarded a second grant to Gedeon’s Farm in Abaco.
FPN was established in Puerto Rico in 2018 in response to the devastating hurricane season the year prior. Since then, $4.1 million in grants have been disbursed to food producers affected by natural disasters in the Caribbean and Central America. The program expanded to the US Virgin Islands and The Bahamas in 2020 where it has invested over a million dollars in food-related businesses.
