Bernard Singleton is the co-founder of Nebedaye Farms and the Bennu Gardens Project, which were created in honor of his son, Ceasar Edward James Singleton (1994-2010). Based in North Carolina, Bernard proudly represents his Gullah heritage by cultivating culturally significant crops like indigo and rice. His acclaimed African Botanical Garden elevates Africa’s botanical legacy in the Americas and has been recognized with a design award from the Practice Foundation.
Nebedaye Farms was selected as Farm of the Year by the North Carolina Agritourism Networking Association, and QCity Metro’s selected Singleton as one of their Great 28, an annual list of impactful Black Charlotteans. He promotes his farm’s initiatives as a way to address food insecurity in local communities, reintroduce culturally rooted crops, and reconnect African Americans with ancestral lands and botanical legacies.
Currently Singleton is working in Ghana and Liberia, collaborating with local rice farmers, providing solar-powered refrigeration units in rural areas, and spearheading projects like a recycling facility and biochar production in Liberia.
You can’t build an app for food”
Photo Credit: Héctor Vaca Cruz with Abre La Boca
Video Credit: Edgar Marcano with The Moka House
