Cherokee Agriculture Company, Bryson City, NC
Project Snapshot:
Cherokee Agriculture Company is improving their growing capabilities in order to have a bigger impact on the health of the Cherokee Community. They are increasing their corn and seed storage, decreasing chemical inputs into their farming, and starting producing greens. Using their tribal cannery, they are creating value-added products to provide additional income and healthy food in the winter months for the community.
Bio: Ty Boyd is currently farming on land leased from the Eastern Band of the Cherokee. This is a special area for their people, and known as their “mother town.” Our initial goal was to provide a constant supply of fresh produce to our local community. However, the pandemic shifted our direction by highlighting the need to focus on more traditional Cherokee and southern Appalachian heirloom crops to provide to our community. The need and demand for these resources in our local market extends far past local foodway’s and ripples into culture and heritage. Seed banking has emerged as an important and complementary direction that will need to be incorporated with much thought. We are a younger generation of farmers in our community and look to fill a special need in cultural revitalization, educational programs, and the local food demand. We look forward to working for our community and positioning ourselves to capture future opportunities as agriculture and horticulture grow to incorporate new directions and markets.
