A 2018 trip to Martinique led Christa Barfield from healthcare to running a 128-acre farm

Barfield wants the Black community to embrace farming and see it as part of its history. Christa Barfield grew up in Germantown, Philadelphia, and once worked in healthcare. Her career changed after a 2018 trip to Martinique, where she met Black farmers and saw their work first-hand. Five days after returning home, Barfield began planning a new career in farming.Today, the 38-year-old St. Joseph’s University graduate runs FarmerJawn Agriculture in West Chester, outside Philadelphia. According to Philadelphia Tribune, The farm covers 128 acres and employs 26 people. Barfield says it is the largest Black-owned farm in Pennsylvania that grows food.Her work now goes beyond growing crops. FarmerJawn has locations in West Chester, Kensington and Elkins Park, with each location following a different farming model. West Chester is rural, Elkins Park is suburban and Kensington is urban. Barfield wants to show that farming and access to food can work across all three settings.The next step is the planned opening of CornerJawn, a food and medicine corner store in Kensington. The store is scheduled to open on October 1 and is part of Barfield’s effort to bring the food grown by FarmerJawn clos...