Faith in the Farm: Planting Health, Hope and Economic Opportunity in Fort Worth’s 76104.

Faith in the Farm: Planting Health, Hope and Economic Opportunity in Fort Worth’s 76104 | Link: https://youtu.be/1zFbKLdHgkA?is=-Oy96qeT-N09Xynu

New Mount Rose is bringing farmers, families, churches and community partners together to transform a food desert into a flourishing food forest.

By Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr.

Founder, Faith in the Farm

In Fort Worth’s 76104 ZIP code, access to healthy food is not simply a matter of convenience. It is a matter of health, dignity and, in many cases, survival.

Too many families live in neighborhoods where fresh vegetables, dairy products and healthy sources of protein are difficult to find or too expensive to purchase regularly. The consequences of food insecurity reach far beyond an empty refrigerator. They can contribute to chronic illness, interfere with childhood development, limit educational achievement and shorten life expectancy.

That is why New Mount Rose Missionary Baptist Church is turning faith into action through Faith in the Farm, a comprehensive community health, agricultural education and food-access initiative designed to help families eat healthier, live longer and build a stronger community.

“Faith in the Farm is rooted in a simple belief: People should not have to leave their neighborhoods to find the food they need to live healthy and productive lives.”

—Pastor Kyev P. Tatum, Sr., Founder, Faith in the Farm

Healthy food should not be treated as a luxury available only to people who live near well-stocked grocery stores or have dependable transportation. Every family deserves access to nutritious, affordable food, regardless of its ZIP code.

In partnership with the Texas Small Farmers and Ranchers Community-Based Organization, the Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program and the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, Faith in the Farm is connecting agriculture, education, public health, economic development and community service.

Together, we are working to build a local food system that serves both the families who need healthy food and the farmers who need reliable places to sell what they grow.

This work is about more than planting seeds. It is about planting purpose.

For more than 30 years, I have worked in civil rights, health justice, education and community development. Through that work, I have learned that these issues cannot be separated.

A hungry child cannot learn at his or her highest level. A family cannot build lasting stability while constantly struggling to meet its most basic needs. A neighborhood cannot reach its full potential when healthy food, quality healthcare and economic opportunities remain beyond the reach of too many residents.

Agriculture gives us another way to confront these challenges—not through temporary charity alone, but through education, participation, ownership and long-term community empowerment.

Where Life Resides on Morningside

At New Mount Rose, the Funkytown Food Forest is demonstrating what becomes possible when people unite around a shared vision. Watermelons, cantaloupes, peppers, squash and other fruits and vegetables are being planted and cultivated in the heart of Morningside.

What was once underused ground is becoming productive soil, an outdoor classroom and a visible sign of renewal.

Every seed planted declares that our community is worthy of investment. Every plant that breaks through the soil reminds us that neglected places can live again. Every harvest carries a powerful message:

Life resides on Morningside.

The Funkytown Food Forest is creating a place where children can learn where their food comes from, develop practical agricultural skills and discover career and business opportunities connected to farming.

Through initiatives such as our Buffalo Soldiers 4-H Club, young people can learn responsibility, leadership, science, technology, animal care, food production and entrepreneurship. They can gain practical experience while discovering that agriculture is not merely part of our past—it can become part of their future.

Adults and families can learn how to grow food, improve their diets and become better stewards of the resources already present within the community. The garden gives neighbors a place to work together across generations, cultures and backgrounds.

It helps us fulfill our commitment to rear our own to succeed while raising our own to serve.

Faith in the Farm is not merely about producing vegetables. It is about producing healthier families, stronger neighborhoods, skilled young people, successful farmers and a new generation that understands the value of the land.

Moving Beyond Temporary Charity

For generations, churches have faithfully fed hungry people. We must continue that sacred work.

New Mount Rose has distributed food to thousands of families through its Community Food Bowl, and we remain committed to filling bowls and blessing souls. However, feeding people today must be connected to building the knowledge, infrastructure and economic opportunity that will help communities feed themselves tomorrow.

True transformation requires us to move beyond emergency food assistance toward a sustainable, community-centered food system.

That means teaching people how to grow food. It means supporting the farmers and ranchers who produce it. It means developing reliable transportation, refrigeration and storage. It means creating fair markets where local producers can earn a living while families receive fresh food at affordable prices.

That is where the Texas Bypass Local Food Purchasing Program becomes an important part of the Faith in the Farm vision.

Connecting Farmers With Families

The Texas Bypass is designed to connect local food producers directly with institutional buyers, community organizations and underserved markets. It creates a pathway through which fresh, nutritious and locally grown food can reach the families and neighborhoods that need it most.

Small and mid-sized farmers, ranchers and growers often have the ability to produce quality food but lack access to large and stable markets. They may face complicated purchasing requirements, costly certifications, packaging challenges, transportation barriers and unfair pricing.

At the same time, churches, schools, hospitals, food programs and other community institutions need dependable sources of fresh, nutritious food.

The Texas Bypass brings these two sides together.

By creating more direct relationships between growers and buyers, we can reduce unnecessary barriers, strengthen local supply chains and keep more food dollars circulating within Texas communities. Instead of allowing small farmers to remain disconnected from major purchasing opportunities, the program helps prepare them to compete, collaborate and grow.

Participating producers can gain access to new and more stable markets, including wholesale and institutional buyers. They can benefit from shared certifications, cooperative marketing and group purchasing opportunities that may be difficult or too expensive to pursue alone.

Farmers can also receive technical assistance with packaging, distribution and logistics while continuing their training in soil health, food safety and agricultural business practices.

Just as importantly, participating farmers should have a meaningful voice in establishing fair market prices. A healthy local food system cannot be built by underpaying the very people who plant, cultivate and harvest our food. Farmers must be able to earn a fair return for their labor while families receive healthy food at a reasonable price.

This creates a community-centered agricultural cycle: local farmers grow the food, community institutions purchase the food, neighborhood organizations help distribute the food and local families receive healthier choices.

Farmers gain dependable customers. Institutions gain dependable suppliers. Underserved communities gain greater access to nutritious food.

This is how we move from the farm, to the family, to the fridge, to the fork.

Churches as Community Food-Access Hubs

The Texas Bypass also creates opportunities for churches and other trusted neighborhood institutions to become food-access hubs.

New Mount Rose can help connect growers to residents through the Funkytown Food Forest, the Community Food Bowl and the Big Purple Fridge. Locally grown produce can be cultivated, purchased, stored, distributed and shared within the same communities that have historically suffered from food insecurity.

Churches are uniquely positioned to help lead this movement. They are already located in the neighborhoods. They understand the people. They have trusted relationships with families, schools, senior adults, young people and community organizations.

By equipping churches to become agricultural education centers, food-distribution hubs and local purchasing partners, we can build a stronger bridge between rural producers and urban communities.

This is not simply charity. It is community infrastructure.

From Guns to Gardens to Groceries

Faith in the Farm recognizes that food insecurity, poor health, poverty, neighborhood neglect and violence do not exist in isolation. Therefore, our solutions cannot operate in isolation.

Our vision is to move the community from guns to gardens to groceries—turning weapons of destruction into tools of cultivation, transforming neglected land into productive gardens and ensuring that the harvest reaches the tables of local families.

We want to give every young person a seed to plant on purpose—and a reason not to pull the trigger.

A garden can become more than a place where vegetables grow. It can become a safe space where children are mentored, families are strengthened, neighbors work together and people begin to believe in their community again.

When we transform vacant and neglected land into gardens, we are not simply changing the appearance of a neighborhood. We are changing its atmosphere. We are replacing abandonment with activity, isolation with fellowship and despair with visible evidence of hope.

A Call for Community Partnership

Fort Worth’s food deserts did not appear overnight, and they will not disappear through the efforts of one church or one organization.

Transformational change will require residents, congregations, farmers, ranchers, universities, businesses, healthcare providers, philanthropic organizations and public leaders to work together.

We must invest in neighborhood gardens, agricultural education, youth development, food-storage infrastructure, transportation and fair purchasing opportunities for small producers. We must connect the people who grow food with the people who need food. We must treat healthy food access as an essential part of public health, economic development and neighborhood revitalization.

Together, we can replace neglected land with productive gardens, food insecurity with greater access, economic barriers with new markets and despair with opportunity.

Faith teaches us that a seed placed in good soil can produce a harvest far greater than itself. Through Faith in the Farm, the Funkytown Food Forest and the Texas Bypass Local Food Purchasing Program, New Mount Rose is putting that faith to work.

We are planting food, but we are also planting knowledge.

We are cultivating crops, but we are also cultivating character.

We are developing markets, but we are also developing communities.

We are supporting farmers while strengthening families.

Most importantly, we are getting our hands dirty so our community can eat clean.

One seed, one farmer, one family and one neighborhood at a time, we are transforming a food desert into a flourishing food forest—and proving that life, health, hope and economic opportunity truly reside on Morningside.