By Caitlin Honan
Kyle Smith wakes up in service of his family and community daily. His early start, 4:30 a.m., is typical, he shared on a snowy morning in February.
A father of five and an aircraft mechanic with the U.S. Air Force Reserve, Kyle is also a Black farmer, which only roughly 2% of the U.S. farming population can claim. It is a statistic that he seems personally motivated to change. “Helping the community, old farmers, new farmers, is very important, especially for Black farmers like myself, to be able to keep our legacy going,” he said.
Kyle’s interest in reclaiming farming as a viable business is to support his family today while honoring those who came before him - his farming mentors and Southern ancestors, as his parents are from the Carolinas. So much of the context about farming was lost during the migration of Black populations from the deep South to Northern regions, Kyle explains. He is clearly farming for change, often teaching and sharing experiences with other Black farmers in the region, bolstering their ability to succeed as best he can. It is intrinsic to his own farm’s mission, which is to “grow, teach and sustain.”
Smith Poultry, the name of his operation, is a pastured poultry and pig farm based in Williamstown, New Jersey, which Kyle started around 2010. He owns six acres, leases about 20, and accesses additional land as needed through other partnerships. He cares for his animals in a nurturing environment, employing sustainable practices such as rotational grazing and non-GMO feed.
His farming venture beginnings were humble and as a means to support his inner circle: his family. “I lost my job and knew water and food were the basic necessities. If I could have control over just one part, I thought that would be good,” he shares. He grew exclusively for his family and neighbors for nearly a decade.
Eventually, he started supplying products to the surrounding community, namely Philadelphia’s popular restaurant scene, and his eggs and his CSA program became popular, too.
It was not until he made a cold call during the COVID-19 pandemic to Philadelphia-based Mexican chef Jennifer Zavala (owner of Juana Tamale) that he changed course.
At the time, Kyle needed an outlet for cow tongue - which takes a special chef to integrate. Not only did Zavala integrate his product into dishes, but she empowered him to embrace his identity as a Black farmer, invoking confidence in him that would later snowball into meaningful connections with big-name restaurants (e.g., Middle Child) and retailers (e.g., Riverwards), willing to take a chance on him.
These businesses repeatedly returned because his product was high-quality, and “they know where it’s coming from; they trust and know the man who is growing their food,” Kyle says.
Kyle also notes advocates like Chef Brandon Dixon of Philadelphia, who does more than just buy his products. He shows up alongside Kyle in some sales meetings to help him negotiate better prices, a part of the business Kyle finds challenging at times. “It is really hard,” Kyle reflects. “Keep your price where it makes sense for you - you have to value your product,” he notes as a big learning moment.
These pivotal relationships within the industry gave him the exposure and guidance to grow his business. He needed access to capital and physical infrastructure to meet increased demand - often a barrier for farmers, especially Black farmers. He secured his first-ever grant, administered in 2023 by the Farmer Veteran Coalition. The funding helped him lay the foundation for a new fabric structure and a shelter for his pigs, turkeys, and birds. The structure is significant, ensuring his investments – his animals – are not hurt or killed by inclement weather like snow and heavy rains. Investments like these can enable expansion beyond restaurants and grocery markets to wholesale, institutional scale.
Kyle’s proximity to Bridgeton Public Schools - a district situated in rural Southern New Jersey where more than half the student population is considered economically disadvantaged - made a relationship with the school system a no-brainer. Kyle’s work with their Food Service Director, Warren DeShields, has been collaborative and a “distinct honor,” according to DeShields. “[The partnership] has allowed us to offer our students premium, locally sourced proteins, including fresh chicken, pork shoulder, and breakfast sausage, all of which have been enthusiastically received by our students,” DeShields continued.
Beyond the stability a relationship with a school district can provide, Kyle explains, he is doubly inspired by the reality that the same high-quality food reaching James Beard-caliber restaurants in Philadelphia is also landing on cafeteria trays for school kids in Bridgeton, NJ. “These kids are our future. Bridgeton kids getting a good meal from a small farm goes a long way.”
The USDA’s Local Food Purchase Assistance Agreement (LFPA) program administered by the New Jersey Department of Agriculture (NJDOA) has also opened doors for producers like Kyle. NJDOA partnered with the Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ) to purchase products from local farmers and get healthy food to New Jersey neighbors who need it. With LFPA funds, CFBNJ buys food from local producers, especially “socially disadvantaged” farmers, defined by the USDA as those belonging to groups that have been subject to racial or ethnic prejudice.
Food is distributed to pantries that provide neighbors in underserved communities with healthy, wholesome, and delicious food. CFBNJ works with other New Jersey food banks to ensure agricultural products from LFPA reach people in need in all 21 New Jersey counties.
The Common Market (TCM), a nonprofit local food distributor with operations in the Mid-Atlantic (Philadelphia), Southeast (Atlanta), Texas (Houston), and the Great Lakes (Chicago), serves as a key partner in the LFPA program’s procurement, outreach, and relationship development activities.
In seven shipments spanning summer 2023 to early 2024 delivered by The Common Market, Smith Poultry moved more than 5,000 pounds of ground pork product to CFBNJ, representing just over $42,000 worth of product. That is $7.48 per lb., and representative of wholesale pricing, values, and scale comparable to what one would find at a farmers' market. The animals are raised at a relatively small scale on pasture (rotated on grass and woodlot areas, fed non-GMO feed, and do not receive hormones or antibiotics), a notable distinction from the ground pork that one would typically find at the supermarket.
Many producers do advanced production planning through partnership with The Common Market, especially the smaller and historically underserved, including Smith Poultry and Provenance Farms, a women-owned operation based out of White House Station, New Jersey, and a grass-fed beef supplier.
“[LFPA] benefits not just me, but the whole concept of farming and other Black farmers that I work with,” Kyle said. “They have never had the opportunity - or even just a conversation - where their product is already sold before it is out of the ground. This is a whole new concept. What we are doing will take a lot of change and mindsets switching around to figure out how this program best works. Farmers are used to putting out money and losing money. This opportunity is pretty good.”
Kyle's work is always rooted in uplifting his fellow farmers, even as his farm grows. As for the next generation of Black farmers, Kyle says farming must go beyond putting your hands in the dirt. In 2024, you must have your skillset, like growing potatoes, but you must also network, get behind a computer, and forge connections.
He mentions a peer and future collaborator, FarmerJawn, a 128-acre working farm in West Chester, Pennsylvania, that, according to its website, operates as the largest Black-woman-owned regenerative organic produce farm in America. “That doesn’t just start by picking peppers every day,” Kyle says. Kyle is in the process of joining FarmerJawn’s operations as its new livestock manager. “You have to get out of the field and learn how to separate yourself from the rest.”
For now, he continues to rise before the sun and instill lessons in his kids about the benefits of caring for animals, producing their own food, and creating community around farming.
He ends our conversation proudly and excitedly talking about summertime Pig Roasts, another homage to Kyle’s Southern heritage. “These roasts are a way of connecting history to my current situation. Honoring those that came before me.”
Caitlin Honan (she/her) is the Communications Director for The Common Market, a nonprofit food distributor serving the Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Texas and Great Lakes regions. She is based in the Philadelphia/South Jersey area. She can be reached at caitlin@thecommonmarket.org.
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