People often joke: Are there Black people in Iowa? But Black farmers? Fewer still.
Just ask Todd Western III, whose family has owned Western Family Farms since 1864, including a farm in New Sharon and another near Waterloo. The family’s story began with enslaved ancestors in Virginia who purchased their freedom, navigated the Underground Railroad and forged new lives as farmers in Iowa.
Generations later, Western gathered more than 115 Black farmers from Iowa, border states and from around the country for the first Iowa Farmers of Color Conference held last December in Des Moines. He’s holding quarterly meetings and events with fellow farmers and gearing up for the next conference in November.
🎧Dana James, the host of The Inside Black Iowa podcast, picks up the story of the Westerns after Todd Western Sr. died in 2008, and Barbara, opera singer and matriarch, led the family’s efforts to make the business more efficient and profitable.
IOWA WRITERS’ COLLABORATIVE
Nicole Baart: This Stays Here, Sioux Center
Ray Young Bear: From Red Earth Drive, Meskwaki Settlement
Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights
Tory Brecht: Brecht’s Beat, Quad Cities
Dartanyan L. Brown: My Integrated Live, Des Moines
Douglas Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll
Jane Burns: The Crossover, Des Moines
Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines
Rachelle Chase : Reading with Rachelle, Ottumwa
Iowa Writers Collaborative: Roundup
Steph C: It Was Never a Dress, Johnston
Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake
Suzanna de Baca: Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley
Taylor Deckert: Taylor’s Millennial Mindset, Sioux City
Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County
Randy Evans: Stray Thoughts, Des Moines via Bloomfield
Daniel P. Finney: Paragraph Stacker, Des Moines
Marianne Fons: Reporting From Quiltropolis, Winterset
Arnold Garson: Second Thoughts, Okoboji and Sioux Falls
Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji
Avery Gregurich: The Five and Dime, Marengo
Fern Kupfer and Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames
Rob Gray's Area: Rob Gray’s Area, Ankeny
Nik Heftman: The Seven Times, Iowa
Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla
Iowa Capital Dispatch, an alliance with IWC
Iowa Podcasters' Collaborative
Iowa Writers Collaborative Roundup Sunday Roundup
Black Iowa News: Dana James, Iowa
Chris Jones: Chris’s Substack, Iowa City
Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo
Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey
Letters From Iowans
Darcy Maulsby: Keepin’ It Rural, Calhoun County
Hola Iowa: Iowa
Alison McGaughey: The Inquisitive Quad Citizen, Quad Cities
Kurtis Meyer: Showing Up, St. Ansgar
Vicki Minor: Relatively Minor, Winterset
Wini Moranville: Wini’s Food Stories, Des Moines
Jeff Morrison: Between Two Rivers, Cedar Rapids
Kyle Munson: Kyle Munson’s Main Street, Des Moines
Jane Nguyen: The Asian Iowan, West Des Moines
John Naughton: My Life in Color, Des Moines
Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines
Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.
Dave Price: Dave Price’s Perspective, Des Moines
Steve Semken: Ice Cube Press, LLC, North Liberty
Macey Shofroth: The Midwest Creative, Norwalk
Larry Stone: Listening to the Land, Elkader
Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona
Mary Swander's Emerging Voices: Emerging Voices, Kalona
Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County
Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport
Jason Walsmith: The Racontourist, Earlham
Kali White VanBaale: 988: Mental Healthcare in Iowa, Bondurant
Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines
Western Family Farms: Celebrating its legacy, Cultivating a Future for Black Farmers in Iowa