<div>My name is Tolu Igun, and I am raising funds to start and sustain OlaLekan Farm (est. 2023.) I live, work, and farm in Prince George's County, MD, and am a proud part of the next generation of young Black farmers in America.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Young farmers need secure land access to feed our communities for generations to come. The average age of a farmer is 57 and rising. But the top barriers to entry for young and beginning farmers are land access and access to capital which has resulted in many leaving the agriculture industry.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>What is OlaLekan Farm?</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>OlaLekan Farm launched on half an acre of rented land where I primarily grow vegetables, fruits and herbs for the Washington Metropolitan area. My intention is to produce foods that are accessible and affordable, healthy and nutritious, and reflective of the current cultures and needs of the people in this region. I prioritize regenerative agriculture techniques aligned with Certified Naturally Grown standards at OlaLekan Farm. The farm provides opportunities for food access and education through wholesale and mutual aid distributions, seedling sales, and hands-on volunteering and workshops focused on how to grow your own food.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>I'm raising funds to be able to…</strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>☆ rent half an acre of land through a local farm incubator program
</div>
<div>☆ purchase necessary farm tools and equipment such as irrigation, storage, soil amendments, pest management
</div>
<div>☆ purchase seeds and seedling supplies
</div>
<div>☆ develop an accessible and affordable food access model that is mutually beneficial to everyone involved
</div>
<div>☆ create an emergency fund for health, climate and community crisis during my first year on the farm
</div>
<div>☆ invest in practices that will allow me to build a self-sustaining farm business long-term
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>More about Farmer Tolu and OlaLekan Farm </strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I, Farmer Tolu, was first introduced to the urban agriculture movement in 2013 in Detroit where I was born. But it wasn't until 2020 that I wholeheartedly committed to a career in farming after moving to the nation's capital. According to The Capital Area Food Bank's annual report, over 1.2 million people experienced food insecurity in the past year, including nearly half of Prince George’s County households. This reality has motivated me to distribute, grow and have the most wonderful conversations about food with the DMV community and I hope to continue to do so for years to come. During the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons, in addition to operating OlaLekan Farm, I offered my time as a coordinator for ECO City Farms Beginning Farmer Training Program working with two cohorts of 52 aspiring farmers.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am also an active member of Not Our Farm's advisory board and Rock Steady Farm's HIVE Alumni Network, and served as a Land Advocacy Fellow with the National Young Farmers Coalition in 2022 and 2023.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I am constantly striving to be the best regenerative farmer and land steward I can possibly be, and welcome anyone from the community to become a part of this journey.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>OlaLekan Farm is named in honor of my maternal grandparents: Lalekan and Olabisi. The meaning behind the name Lalekan heavily aligns with the life my late grandfather lived as an agronomist, businessman, and leader in his community. Lalekan (Lekan) roughly translated to English means addition of wealth. The first half of the word OlaLekan stems from my grandmother's name, Olabisi. She is an educator, writer, caregiver, and community leader in her own right. The Yoruba name Olabisi means the addition of joy and honor have increased. Therefore, at OlaLekan Farm, the addition of honor, joy and wealth will occur for all who become a part of this community.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Building OlaLekan Farm is not only a return to myself, my heritage and my ancestry as a child of Nigerian immigrants. For me, starting this farm endeavor is the best way I know to resolve food insecurity at this moment while building the happy, healthy, sustainable world I hope to live in one day.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>To learn more about my journey, read my story on Not Our Farm: <a href="https://notourfarm.org/2022/08/28/tolu-igun-she-they/." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://notourfarm.org/2022/08/28/tolu-igun-she-they/." target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://notourfarm.org/2022/08/28/tolu-igun-she-they/.</a></a>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>To understand more about the barriers emerging farmers face, check out The National Young Farmer Survey: <a href="https://www.youngfarmers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/NationalSurveyReport22-1.pdf." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"><a href="https://www.youngfarmers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/NationalSurveyReport22-1.pdf." target="_blank" class="" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">https://www.youngfarmers.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/NationalSurveyReport22-1.pdf.</a></a>
</div>

Mojisola Igun

Jan Baird-Adams

dk martin

Najwa Womack

Brenda Sauter

Anonymous

Moji Igun

Jessica Davis

Helen Choe

mai-trang dang

Velma M D Anderson

Louis Tinsley

Mervis Calwise

Julia Tessler

Sally Watanabe

Tracey Duval

Shalita O'Neale

Help A Young Black Farmer Sustain OlaLekan Farm

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Help A Young Black Farmer Sustain OlaLekan Farm

Still $7,874 to go. Help us build momentum.