Transparency
Every source, license, and attribution in the open.
The Harvest directory is curated from public sources. This page documents each one, the license it carries, the attribution it earns, and our policy on how listings are added, edited, and removed.
Data sources
Each listing in the directory traces back to one of these public sources. Every listing is attributed on its detail page.
Virginia Black Farmer Directory
- Operator
- Local Food Hub
- License
- public listing, peer republication with attribution
- Attribution
- Listing initially sourced from the Virginia Black Farmer Directory, maintained by Local Food Hub in partnership with Cultivate Charlottesville and Africulture.
Shoppe Black Black-owned Farms List
- Operator
- Shoppe Black via Agritecture
- License
- public resource list
- Attribution
- Listing initially identified in Shoppe Black's Black-owned farms and food gardens directory, republished by Agritecture.
Public news feature
- Operator
- Various
- License
- fair-use citation
- Attribution
- Farm publicly featured in named news coverage. Citation available on detail page.
No single public URL. Each listing records its named citation on its detail page.
Wikipedia, List of historically black colleges and universities
- Operator
- Wikipedia
- License
- CC BY-SA 4.0
- Attribution
- HBCU data sourced from Wikipedia, List of historically black colleges and universities, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Ujamaa Verification
The three tiers
Every producer profile on Harvest carries one of three badges, named for the Ujamaa principle of cooperative economics. The badge tells a buyer what kind of verification stands behind the listing.
- Self-attested
A member created the listing through List your farm, signed in to Harvest, and attested under their own name that the operation is Black-owned and that they are authorized to represent it. The listing is published after our team reviews the submission.
- Member-verified
A member of Harvest has claimed the listing through the claim flow, attested to ownership, and been approved by our team. The verified member can keep the profile current at any time.
- Third-party verified
On top of member verification, the operation carries an external credential that we have confirmed. We accept any one of these as the third-party signal:
- NMSDC certification (National Minority Supplier Development Council)
- Federation of Southern Cooperatives membership
- State Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certification
- USDA 2501 program participation
These tiers describe how a listing was verified, not whether the member is welcome here. Every Black-owned operation can claim their place at any tier.
Listing policy
Additions
Listings are added only from public sources we can name and link, or from a producer who claims their own place in the directory. We record where each listing came from and attribute it on its detail page. We do not buy lists, and we do not scrape sources that ask us not to.
Edits
A producer can claim a listing and correct anything we got wrong: name, location, products, sales channels, or website. Claims are verified before changes go live so a listing is only edited by the people it represents. The attribution stays in place, with the source the listing was first identified through preserved on the record.
Removals
No producer is locked into the directory. A removal request is honored on the producer's word once we verify it comes from the listing it concerns, and the record comes down with no questions asked.
Producers can claim, edit, or request removal at any time. Removals are processed within 24 hours of verified request.
Attribution
Producer data aggregated from the Virginia Black Farmer Directory (Local Food Hub), Shoppe Black's published Black-owned farms list, named public news features, and individual farm websites. HBCU data sourced from Wikipedia, List of historically black colleges and universities, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Every listing is attributed on its detail page. Producers can claim, edit, or request removal at any time.