Afrotech - Charlotte’s Web Joins Forces With 40-Acre Cooperative to Provide Black Farmers With Resources to Grow Hemp | Feb 25, 2021
Photo Credit: 40-acre Coop founder Angela Dawson and members on their hemp farm in Minnesota. (CNW Group/Charlottes Web PR Marketing)
Charlotte’s Web, Inc. is doubling down on its “Ten Commitments to Black Lives” by equipping Black farmers with resources.
On Feb. 25, Charlotte’s Web, the world’s most trusted hemp brand and a certified B Corp launched, “Seeding Our Future, Together,” a mentorship program geared toward Black hemp farmers and leaders.
In a press release, the company announced that it’s partnering with 40-acre Cooperative, a rapidly growing organization with over 50 farmer members across seven states. Their goal is to reverse the staggering underrepresentation of Black farmers, scientists, businesspeople and leaders in the hemp industry.
“Greater diversity in our company and in the hemp industry may not happen swiftly, but working together with The 40-acre Co-op on our new ‘Seeding Our Future, Together’ mentor program is a way to move forward by sharing our knowledge, our science, and our cultivation expertise with Black farmers and other agricultural leaders in the black community,” said Deanie Elsner, CEO and President of Charlotte’s Web.
The press release states 40-acre Cooperative is the first national cooperative to cater to Black farmers that has launched in over a hundred years.
“This is the beginning of an important shift in the industry and we intend to use this momentum to create lasting and impactful change,” said Angela Dawson, Founder and President of the 40-acre Cooperative (FAC).
According to statistics, in 1920 there were nearly a million Black farmers in the United States. Today there are only 45,508. This accounts for just 1.3% of the nearly 3.4 million farmers in the country.
FAC was birthed in 2019 by Dawson, a hemp farmer, who was inspired by the frightening statistics and wanted to make a move to spark change as a hemp farmer herself.
The Minneapolis-based co-op will educate Charlotte’s Web leadership team and employees on opportunities along with challenges for the Black hemp farming and manufacturing community. This will kick off with a Charlotte’s Web employee Lunch and Learn with Dawson on Feb. 26.
“This collaboration is important for our entire hemp industry so it may achieve a wider potential for innovation through diversity.,” said Jared Stanley, co-founder and Chief Cultivation Officer of Charlotte’s Web. “Our Charlotte’s Web Cultivation Team is excited to share our knowledge of organic hemp farming, and we know we will also gain knowledge from our work with the 40-acre Cooperative and its farming members.”
As a part of “Growing Our Future, Together,” Charlotte’s Web will also donate some of its U.S. patented Lindorea hemp seed to FAC farmers for the 2021 growing season.
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