In this episode of Compost, Cotton & Cornrows, Dominique Drakeford sits in rich conversation with Fredeline “Freddie” Amedee-Benjamin, co-owner of Papa Rozier Farms, a vertically integrated farm-to-store ecosystem rooted in Haiti What began as a mission to sustain Bati School evolved into a 50-acre regenerative farm producing cold-pressed castor and moringa oils that are grown, harvested, pressed, bottled and sold without a middleman in Brooklyn. “We are essentially the farmer and the producer,” Freddie shares. “I can tell you where it came from and how it came to be in your bottle.” Together, they unpack sustainability as the ability to self-sustain and to build something that protects and provides for itself no matter what the world is doing while also challenging the global narrative that reduces Haiti to crisis instead of creativity, ingenuity and legacy.

This conversation is about memory, power and refusing to follow trends that simply circle us back to what our ancestors already knew. From Haiti’s revolutionary roots in 1804 to uplifting women through education and employment (Bati School is 85% women-led), Freddie reminds us that sustainability is cultural. Castor and moringa are not new, but instead  are ancestral technologies, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-trend. This is a story about building institutions that outlive headlines, raising daughters who show up unapologetically and proving that when you put enough energy into something, it becomes unavoidable.

CAN’T STOP! WON’T STOP! 

https://paparozierfarms.com/

Compost, Cotton & Cornrows: the space where Black & Afro-Indigenous Vanguards are redefining sustainability through storytelling!

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