Before Martice Scales became a farmer he thought computers were the future. He was studying computer network systems and telecommunications when a divine voice, he says, called out to him and said what he should be learning was how to grow his own food.  For Scales, understanding how to plant and produce food is a fundamental knowledge that has fed families, sustained communities, and fueled the growth of societies for millennia.  

“When something goes wrong it’s usually the Black community that gets hit first and the hardest, and then is the slowest to recover,” said Scales. “It’s a disservice to our people to not have access to farmers and farmland.”

He pivoted from pursuing Microsoft certifications to enroll in the Eco-Justice Center, an environmental education center and organic farm in Racine, Wisconsin. Learning to grow radishes instead of communication systems, brings Scales peace, happiness, and security.

For Scales, growing food for his family and community isn’t just an interest or something he wants to do. It’s what he needs to do; it’s his calling. And by sharing his knowledge with others it becomes a calling for others. After leaving the Eco-Justice Center, Scales secured his first piece of land, a quarter-acre plot through the Fondy Farm at the first site of the Fondy incubator farm in Port Washington. Fondy no longer leases at this site-an hour away and now only has space at the Mequon Nature Preserve, a 40-acre incubator farm that has the mission of providing affordable, long-term leases to historically underserved producers. Today, that quarter acre plot has more than octupled in size. Scales and his wife Amy, along with a bit of help from their children, run Full Circle Healing Farm, a two-acre vegetable, herb, and flower farm.

In 2023 and 2024, Martice and Amy received contracts through the Wisconsin Local Food Purchase Assistance (WI LFPA) Program to grow food for food access organizations. WI LFPA was funded by the USDA LFPA which was expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act. WI LFPA is strengthening food systems in Wisconsin by awarding farmers and community partners grants to grow fresh, nutritious food that is picked up and distributed to hunger relief partners throughout Wisconsin and provided to underserved communities. Scales founded their farm on the same kind of values and they’ve been working to feed food insecure people in their community. 

“Growing up I was wary of places that had more trees than people, but what I’m trying to do now is bring more people out to rural areas and teach them to take power in the food system itself. That’s the best way to ensure that we’ll be healthy, happy, and we’re able to build our family legacies regardless of what’s happening socially or politically.” 

Martice wants to be a resource to other BIPOC people by using farming as a tool for growth and empowerment. In January 2023 Full Circle Healing Farm became part of Martice and Amy’s non-profit, Full Circle Healing: Farm, Healing Center, Apothecary. They are currently in a capital campaign to buy a property to expand their operation, with dedicated space for training beginning BIPOC farmers.

WI LFPA has been critical to the success of small and midsize farmers and the health of rural communities. Without these programs it would be difficult for BIPOC farmers to establish grow operations capable of meeting the demand of their communities. Without local farmers there is a limited supply of fresh and healthy food options for community members to choose from. WI LFPA helps to create a more equitable, viable, and sustainable food system.

“Everybody has a different definition of what a farmer is. If you say I have to have a tractor, raise different animals, I have to grow a lot of vegetables, and own the land then no, there aren’t many black farmers, but I think we need to broaden the term as a society,” said Scales. “If you think a farmer is someone who can garden or has the ability to grow and produce food for themselves and are able to sell their produce and other value-added products to their community, then there’s quite a few of us in the early stages. We generally don’t have access to the same capital or governmental help as the generations of people in the past to take land like through something like the Homestead Act, but when we heal from generational trauma and take up the calling to produce food, you start to realize we’ve always been farmers even after slavery was abolished.”

The American Rescue Plan Act was a stimulus package passed by the 117th U.S. Congress in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was signed into law in March of 2021 by President Biden to aid in the country’s economic recovery.