“The Garden Man” Bobby Wilson Uses Retirement Money to Feed a Community
By Kina Velasco | WeINSPIRE Journalist
Bobby Wilson has always strived to serve locals through his gardening skills, even taking the time to implement community gardens in drug-infested neighborhoods
Now an urban agricultural veteran, Wilson continues to facilitate change–this time through his own community farm, something he’s invested his own retirement money into: Metro Atlanta Urban Farm
The farm helps marginalized families grow their own produce sustainably, hosts educational events for volunteers, teaches locals the value of healthy eating–and most notably–promotes equity for farmers of color
9-Minutes Read
SAN FRANCISCO, California – According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), in 2021, nearly 20% of Black individuals lived in a food insecure household. In addition, Black people are almost three times as likely to face hunger as white individuals. Meet the solution to food insecurity in the state of Georgia, “The Garden Man” named by his community, better known as Bobby Wilson, who operates the nonprofit Metro Atlanta Urban Farm.
Bobby Wilson. Photo by cnn.com
During the late 70s into the early 80s, Bobby Wilson would visit drug-infested communities in the Metro Atlanta area to start garden programs. “There were people in their communities that cared about their communities–they wanted young kids to learn something other than being a drug dealer, so we grew that program into more than three hundred community gardens across the Metro Atlanta area,” Wilson, who has now been involved in Urban Agriculture for more than thirty years, said.
Wilson’s dedication, passion and expertise in gardening prompted him to invest his retirement money into building a community farm. In 2009, Wilson created Metro Atlanta Urban Farm (MAUF) – a 501(c)(3) organization that is “in the community, for the community.” Located at 3271 Main St, College Park, Georgia, MAUF boasts five-acres of land, just minutes away from downtown Atlanta. MAUF reduces barriers to healthy, sustainable living in urban and rural communities. Marginalized families are taught how to grow their own food on small tracts of land using sustainable practices, and programs educate volunteers on the agriculture industry, including how to best acquire land and resources.
Through the community garden onsite, MAUF also allows volunteers to pick their own fruits and vegetables. The MAUF team believes everyone deserves access to affordable, fresh produce free of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. “You stand a chance at living to be 110, 125 years of age and be free of many of the diseases and health challenges that our community faces. Free of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and some of the most common things that we are challenged with in our community,” Wilson explained.
Community Garden at Metro Atlanta Urban Farm. Courtesy of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm’s website.
One of the farm’s core principles is fighting for equity, diversity and inclusion, especially as a team of farmers of color. “In so many cases, in the past and still in the present, so many of our farmers aren’t even recognized when they walk into the USDA office. So there are many things at MAUF that we are doing for the community, because we’re in the community,” Wilson said.
Metro Atlanta Urban Farm members. Courtesy of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm’s website
Championing for funding as Black farmers remains a significant challenge for MAUF. In fact, it took Wilson’s bank two and a half years to agree to fund the farm. While Wilson’s work is being publicly recognized–he was recently nominated for CNN 2022 Hero of the Year–the farm still lacks adequate funding. Wilson invested his retirement money into the farm, and MAUF depends on grants, donations and–most importantly–volunteers, to sustain the area.
“It’s All About Building Relationships”
One of the largest changes Wilson has observed is the changing volunteer demographic, from older generations, to now younger families and individuals. Cathy Walker, MAUF’s Director of Programs, agrees that the farm’s audience is now primarily composed of younger generations–but she’s still managed to cultivate meaningful relationships with older volunteers. “Over the years, we’ve built relationships with these people. We go to their birthdays, funerals, we do it all, it’s a commitment…it’s all about building relationships,” Walker said.
Walker admits to initially being skeptical about joining MAUF, until she began seeing significant changes in her own character.
“I didn’t know anything about gardening and I wasn’t gonna do it. I was really materialistic, I was worried about what I was gonna wear, and after I started working with community gardeners, I could see myself changing,” Walker said.
These relationships extend beyond volunteers and fellow gardeners to the whole Metro Atlanta community.
One day, as Wilson was leaving the farm, he came across a homeless man.
“I asked him [if he needed] some food, he said yes, so I took time, came back into the office space and fixed him a bag of food…A few weeks later the same homeless man came up in our line and asked for food, and he was in a confrontation with another homeless person. So I remembered his name and called him by name–and he turned around slowly and looked at me and said, ‘You remember my name.’ And that meant so much to him. That made him feel like a person.”
The man then offered Wilson some of the money he had on hand–“He went in his pocket and pulled out maybe five or six $1 bills, and he offered me half of his money, because he started calling me his friend. And today I still see that man walking up and down the street in front of MAUF…We speak to each other and he makes sure that if he’s in the area, he’s gonna come by and speak to me and if he needs something that we can provide for him, we provide it,” Wilson said.
“I always feel that it’s important that if you have a little bit more than somebody else, you need to be able to give back….if we can team up, and those who are like me can make sure that nobody in the community that I serve go hungry, if there’s another team in the same community that can make sure nobody is homeless, then we can take care of our own,” Wilson said.
Spearheading Change for Future Communities
Wilson hopes to build an educational Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) research center at the farm, complete with a lab, so students in the Metro Atlanta area have a place to “do innovative things around science and agriculture.” He emphasizes that agriculture is more than planting seeds and farming, but involves the STEM industry as well, particularly when it comes to research and biotechnology. Wilson plans to continue visiting schools to teach youth the value of agriculture, “what it has been, and what it can be in our society.”
Wilson underscores that, ultimately, policy is what drives. Minority commissioners of agriculture must be put into positions of power, so they may implement policies that benefit their own communities. According to Wilson, institutions should also involve marginalized groups into the process of developing projects and policymaking to make for a more unified, community-centered approach.
Volunteers at Metro Atlanta Urban Farm. Courtesy of Metro Atlanta Urban Farm’s website.
“I think we got a story to tell and I don’t mind telling it how I see it. What I tell you is what I’ve experienced and is not what somebody else has told me,” Wilson said.
Want to get involved? Learn more about MAUF, visit their website, Facebook or Instagram. To donate to the Metro Atlanta Urban Farm via GoFundMe, click here.
