In the Press: NOW Toronto — How Toronto's Black Farmers Are Tackling the City's Food Crisis

NOW Toronto published a feature on Toronto's Black urban farming community in February 2025, in the context of the City of Toronto declaring food insecurity an emergency. Zawadi Farm founder Jessey Njau is profiled alongside other Black farmers who have been building resilient, community-rooted food systems in Toronto for years — well before the emergency declaration made it a headline issue.

The article documents how Zawadi Farm operates from five acres inside Downsview Park, partnering with the Canada Lands Company, and how the farm's model — part community resource, part commercial operation, part social enterprise — is designed to address food access for communities that have historically been priced out of fresh produce markets.

"San Farms growing Afro-centric crops, Ubuntu, Black Creek, Toronto Black Growers. They have all been doing the same thing. We see the need in our community." — Jessey Njau

Read the full feature in NOW Toronto →