CVAAC
Central Virginia Agrarian Commons
The BIPOC-led Central Virginia Agrarian Commons supports BIPOC control of land for building resilient regional food systems.
About the Central Virginia Agrarian Commons
The Central Virginia Agrarian Commons supports BIPOC control of land for building resilient regional food systems. By holding urban and rural farmland and cultivating relationships and networks with and within the BIPOC agricultural community, the BIPOC-led Central Virginia Agrarian Commons aims to address the food production and aggregation/distribution needs of BIPOC farmers in the region.
This Agrarian Commons is unique for its vision of the interdependence of rural and urban communities. Board members represent urban priorities and market opportunities, as well as rural agrarianism as a lifestyle and livelihood, and recognize the interdependence of both to build a resilient food system. This Commons is also unique in its plan to hold land for housing as well as food production, in both urban and rural communities.
Meet The Board
The whole is much more than the sum of it’s part. Meet our team!
Renard Turner
Founding board member
Renard Turner is the co-owner and operator of Vanguard Ranch, a diversified farm business located in Louisa County just southeast of Gordonsville, Virginia. He and his wife, Chinette, founded the business in 2007 on land they had purchased, and have since raised pastured heritage kiko goats and organic heirloom vegetables for sale in local markets in Charlottesville.
Duron Chavis
board CHAIRPERSON
Duron Chavis started his career in community advocacy at the Black History Museum and Cultural Center of Virginia, where he founded Happily Natural Day; dedicated to transforming the built environment for food justice and climate resiliency across Central Virginia.
tyrone cherry
founding board member
Tyrone Cherry III has been working for years providing education and space to learn about urban agriculture. From community gardens to farmers markets he has created several huge initiatives such as the Petersburg League of Urban Growers (P.L.U.G.), around connecting the community with local growers.
Nikki d’adamo damery
treasurer
Nikki D’Adamo-Damery serves as the Director of Conservation Outreach and Equity at the Sand County Foundation. She has a B.A. in Cultural Anthropology from Duke University and an M.S. in Sustainable Agriculture and Sociology with a certificate in Social Justice from Iowa State University.
callie walker
secretary
Callie Walker is a Methodist minister in rural Amelia County. She is a founding board member of the Central Virginia Agrarian Commons, and donated her land for BIPOC farmers to live and grow on. She believes that reparations and restitution can take many forms
The FarmLands
The Central Virginia Agrarian Commons began with relationships that represent this interdependence between urban and rural communities as well as the broader interdependence between land, people, food, community, and economic opportunity. The Richmond-based Maggie Walker Community Land Trust was interested in partnering to address affordable farmland access and affordable housing. Landowner Callie Walker of Amelia County, located just southwest of Richmond, wanted to explore the potential of creating a cross-race, cross-age farm community. Walker holds a vision for the future of her land that is inspired by her faith, her connection to the land, and her commitment to increasing Black and Indigenous land ownership.
As a longtime farmer, Central Virginia Agrarian Commons board member Renard Turner is particularly attuned to the realities of Black land loss. Through the Commons, he envisions introducing people of color to vocational farming with an emphasis on sustainable, organic practices and value-added production. Rural farmland in the Commons will support BIPOC agrarians and BIPOC-owned farm businesses with secure tenure, community, and strategic distribution.
Urban agriculture is gaining huge momentum in Richmond, in part due to Central Virginia Agrarian Commons board member and visionary Duron Chavis. In Richmond, the Commons will take ownership of smaller urban parcels for food production, aggregation, distribution, and marketing. These urban lands will complement rural land in the commons, enabling rural producers to have a ready-made market for their produce while enabling urban farmers to benefit from the ability to grow right where they live and further food sovereignty within larger, racially diverse communities. Together, these urban and rural lands will create a community-centered constellation of urban farmlands that engage thousands of urban visitors along with a rural production farm that feeds thousands of residents annually, urban and rural alike. The urban infrastructure will also support rural farmers, and farmer incubation will create pathways for Richmond residents to acquire land tenure in Amelia County.
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