Silos - Incite at Columbia University

Incubated Project

Silos

In 2025, the USDA eliminated the "socially disadvantaged" classification for farmers and canceled millions of dollars in climate-smart and DEI grants and programs. Mississippi farmers have been hit particularly hard, with the loss of DEI agricultural grants forcing the shutdown of the Delta Regional Food Business Center. Farmers across the state—especially those who continue to face racial and ethnic discrimination and land displacement—now struggle with increased isolation and fewer resources.

Silos is assembling a coalition to bridge the resource, network, and capacity gaps amongst farmer-led organizations and farmers in Mississippi. The initiative connects nonprofits and farmers to share resources and build collective power through a centralized newsletter featuring agricultural jobs, grants, and programming opportunities, along with regular convenings. By breaking down silos, the project aims to create a healthier, more resilient network of Mississippi farmers.
 

Team Lead

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    Juan Quinonez Zepeda

    Juan Quinonez Zepeda began working on cattle ranches in northern Mississippi at the age of 14, and in 2024, he launched his family’s own operation in Mississippi. Beyond the ranch, Juan serves as a Program Associate at the Wallace Center; he is also a young researcher and speaker, a Root and Bloom Fellow with the National Young Farmers Coalition, a farmworker advocate, and holds leadership positions in his community. In 2020, he co-founded the FUERZA Farmworkers’ Fund, a mutual aid fund that supports immigrant farmworkers. His research- examining the South’s historical and ongoing reliance on immigrant labor and documentation of tacit knowledge in agriculture- has been featured in Southern Cultures and the Southeastern Geographer. Juan holds a degree in geography from Dartmouth College.

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