In a fallow field off the Virginia Capital Trail in Henrico County Tuesday morning, urban agriculture expert Duron Chavis walked through the grass alongside Parker Agelasto, a former Richmond City councilman who now leads the Capital Region Land Conservancy.
Chavis explained how putting 61 acres of land at the cross section of Duran and New Market Roads into a conservation easement protected it from development and brought down the cost of the property, making land ownership more accessible to Virginia farmers of color amid a persistent racial wealth gap and decades of Black land loss.
“The conversation was about racial equity. In this moment, we are talking about real equity, land ownership by community organizations of color,” Chavis, who is also board chair of the Central Virginia Agrarian Community Land Trust (CVACLT), said…