Melbourne has also been quick to call attention to his community’s needs by reaching out to elected officials, most recently when he attended U.S. “On the social side of things, what he’s doing is much needed,” he remarked. While the center and Melbourne sometimes don’t see eye-to-eye on certain aspects of their relationship, Sethuratnam reemphasized that the center is happy to work with Melbourne and is proud of all the work he has done to improve his community. “This is a societal issue and society needs to band together with farmers, service providers, nonprofits and other entities to see how we’re going to transform this.” “Nobody has the money to buy it,” he argued.
He used an 18-acre parcel of land in Woodland currently being sold for around $800,000 as an example. “For instance, in Yolo County, all the best lands are gone and if they come up for sale they’re really expensive.”
“What they do after is a huge problem and it’s a problem that just cannot be solved by nonprofits alone because most of the ag land is already taken,” he highlighted. Sethuratnam noted that while it is possible for small farm businesses to expand after participating in the program, the difficulty to do so stems largely from the lack of land available and the cost of viable land when it does become available. However, the center made an exception when they learned about Melbourne’s nonprofit’s interest in joining the program. Sridharan Sethuratnam, California Farm Academy Director for the center since 2016, explained that most people who participate in the farm business incubator program do so as individuals. Melbourne believes that the Center and Three Sisters Gardens should have a better working relationship on a level playing field as partners, although their relationship is currently as lessor and lessee due to the nature of the program. “The challenges are that much greater when we see a larger organization that could help us a lot more than seeing us as competition,” Melbourne stressed. Melbourne said his goal is to provide food directly to the community that he’s from, noting that his community has been far behind other communities in West Sacramento and in the county. “Being a participant in that program, there are certain guidelines, certain things that we have to abide by…but we’re trying to do our own thing because our mission and visions are different.” “We are ourselves also a nonprofit organization from this community so it becomes very competitive when we are going after the same pot of money,” he explained. While there are many obstacles the farm is currently dealing with, Melbourne argues that one of the main challenges is that the Center for Land-Based Learning – the organization that runs the Urban Farm Business Incubator Program Melbourne is a part of – has access to much of the resources, knowledge and tools that would benefit organizations like Melbourne’s. “We just need to ground them again, actually get their hands back in the soil and bring the elders out that have the knowledge and the wisdom to share and the adults that can help…be that solid in-between to make a connection.” It’s giving us connections to the city council, county supervisors and a lot of confidence to go and speak up for what we know we’re missing out here.”įour years later and the nonprofit’s main goal is now to “connect the elders, the adults and the youth” to create a thriving community, which Melbourne argues is much needed in his community that is classified as a food desert. “I tell a lot of folks that it’s more than just lettuce, we’re growing community. “From one small little field it quickly turned into two, then three and now we have four spaces out here connecting us with so many community members that we wouldn’t have met had we not had these spaces,” he stressed. With help from tribe elders, Melbourne cleaned up a small parcel of land that would become the first of several farms comprising Three Sisters Gardens. “When I came home in 2016, it was about creating change and being the change out here in the community and giving these youngsters an opportunity.” “After having spent 18 years incarcerated, the lights went on for me and I just knew that there had to be a different way,” Melbourne recounted. Melbourne – who is part of the Hunkpapa Lakota tribe – explained that growing up in the Bryte and Broderick area of West Sacramento was about being tough and that there was a lack of good role models in the community. Alfred Melbourne shows how many different foods – such as tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green bell peppers, corn and more – can be grown on one parcel of land Tuesday at 5th & C Street Farm in West Sacramento.
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