Sophia Buggs, Youngstown OH

Sophia Buggs is a 4th generation African American woman, a community activist, and a small-scale beginning farmer in Youngstown, Ohio. She is the owner of the Lady Buggs Pharm and loves to be referred to as a professional agriculturalist. She fulfills several roles in her community toward ensuring they have access to healthy and fresh local produce. While growing up, Sophia never heard stories about her family’s farming history, but she was influenced by her grandmother who kept a backyard garden. She specifically felt called to rekindle and restore her grandmother’s gardening heritage in order to provide medicinal foods for her daughter. She believes that “food is medicine.”

 

In 2010, she started an apprenticeship program to build her farming skills and sustain her 1.3-acre farm. As a Black farmer, Sophia has been discriminated against and challenged. In response, she has used her voice and knowledge to advocate for Black farmers’ representation and fairness at many farming conferences in and out of the state. She enjoys great support from her community and is honored to serve as the Mahoning Food Access Initiative Director for the city of Youngstown.

 

“I don’t want to be like our ancestor George Washington Carver, who has been reduced to being a peanut farmer. He was one of the greatest American scientists ever and not just a peanut farmer. For me, I want agriculture to be the extraordinary thing that I do.”