Savi Horne — Land, Legacy, Justice

Attorney · Land-Justice Elder · Movement Builder

Savonala
“Savi” Horne

For more than thirty years she has used the law to keep families on their land — now she is naming the ground shifting beneath us all.

A movement elder

The fight for land
is the fight for our future

Recognized by the James Beard Foundation, Farm Aid, and the American Bar Association for a lifetime of land-justice work.

Rooted in the land

Land is more than soil

It’s heritage. It’s history. It’s home — the ground Savi has spent a lifetime helping families hold on to.

Land · Legacy · Justice

Rooted in rights,
sovereign by birth

Leading the Land Loss Prevention Project — legal expertise, community education, and advocacy for Black farmers and rural landowners.

James Beard
Leadership
Award · 2023

The throughline

Land is not just soil. It is memory, power, and the place a people stand.

Savi Horne came to land justice through the labor movement — Rutgers Law, organizing work in New York, and a formative year in Zimbabwe — before finding her way south to North Carolina.

Since 1998 she has led the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers' Land Loss Prevention Project — a nonprofit law firm now celebrating 43 years of keeping financially distressed and limited-resource families on their land. Under her stewardship it has defended farmers in crisis, built community wealth, and reshaped national policy.

Today she stands as an elder of the movement — guiding the next generation, and naming the tectonic shifts in land, food, and power that will define the decades ahead.

USDA Equity Commission EPA Environmental Justice Council National Family Farm Coalition Rural Coalition Black Land & Power Coalition Wisdom Council · Black Food & Justice Alliance

A life, rooted

Three decades climbing toward justice

From her first day at the bar to a national policy table — every season added a ring.

1990
Called to the New York Bar
After Rutgers Law–Newark, organizing work, and a year in Zimbabwe with an African American NGO.
1998
Joins the Land Loss Prevention Project
Begins three decades of advocacy for financially distressed and limited-resource farmers across North Carolina.
2000s
EPA National Environmental Justice Advisory Council
Six years of federal service connecting environmental justice to the land.
2009
Sierra Club “Changemaker”
National recognition for sustaining a future for small and BIPOC farmers.
2020
American Bar Association Stewardship Award
SEER Award for Excellence in Environmental, Energy, and Resources Stewardship.
2022
Spirit of Farm Aid Award
A Lifetime All Access Pass, signed by Willie Nelson, for her contribution to family-farm agriculture.
2023
James Beard Foundation Leadership Award
One of the nation's highest honors for those building a more just and equitable food system.
2024
USDA Equity Commission — Final Report
Instrumental in shaping recommendations on land access and conservation for historically marginalized producers.
2024
$29M+ secured through USDA’s DFAP
Helped farmers, aspiring farmers, landowners, and ranchers win more than $29 million in awards through the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program — relief for those harmed by past discrimination in federal farm lending.
Now
The Sovereign Soil pivot — and a book on the way
Turning a lifetime of practice into vision: naming the shifts beneath us and helping build what comes next.

Recognition

Honored across the field

National institutions — legal, environmental, and culinary — have all marked her work.

2023

James Beard Leadership Award

Awarded for visionary leadership creating a more healthful, sustainable, and equitable food world.

2022

Spirit of Farm Aid Award

A Lifetime All Access Pass signed by Willie Nelson, honoring her tireless work for family-farm-centered agriculture.

2020

ABA SEER Stewardship Award

The American Bar Association's honor for excellence in environmental, energy, and resources stewardship.

2009

Sierra Club Changemaker

Profiled nationally for proving a small farmer can thrive in the 21st century.

In her own voice

Hear the work, straight from the source

The ground beneath the work

The story of Black land loss

A century ago, Black farmers stewarded millions of acres across the American South. Discriminatory lending, tangled heir property, and unjust foreclosures stripped most of it away. Move through the timeline to see what was lost — and why this work matters.

14,000,000
acres of Black-owned farmland

More than 85% of Black-owned farmland has been lost since 1910.
Infographic: the decline of Black-owned farmland from 1910 to today
Placeholder visual — hover to enlarge (click to pin). The full Black land-loss story, 1910 to today; final infographic to be supplied.

Stages & airwaves

A voice carried across the country

Keynotes & talks

  • 01
    Yale University — Pierson College Tea“Agriculture, Land, and Equity,” on MLK Day — decades of coalition-building and agricultural justice law.
  • 02
    Community Food Funders — Annual GatheringKeynote presentation (2023) to the regional food-system movement.
  • 03
    American University — Center for Environmental PolicyA featured conversation on land, law, and environmental justice.
  • 04
    Tales from Planet Earth Film FestivalFeatured conversation in Madison, Wisconsin.

Radio & podcasts

  • 01
    To The Best Of Our Knowledge“When You Hold Land You Have to Keep It” — on Black farmers reclaiming their ground.
  • 02
    Edge Effects PodcastOn land justice, food justice, and fighting Black land loss.
  • 03
    USDA — Equity Initiatives feature“Stewarding Land Access and Environmental Justice.”

Upcoming

Where to find Savi next

Talks, panels, and gatherings on the calendar. Want her at yours? Reach out below.

Jun
24
2026

Shaping the Future of Food

Institute for Agriculture & Trade Policy · Webinar · 12 p.m. CT

Farm Bill 2026 & Conservation Funding
Nov
12
2026

Sovereign Soil Collective — Launch Gathering

Host · Online & in person

Movement
More appearances announced soon — check back, or invite Savi to yours below.

The work now

A lifetime of practice becomes a vision for what comes next.

The umbrella

The Sovereign Soil Collective

Where Savi's land-justice legacy meets the next stage of movement-building — an all-encompassing home for sovereignty in land, food, finance, and people, powered by Convergence AI.

MoneyMap

Charting a path to financial sovereignty and generational wealth.

Africa One

Connecting the diaspora to land, roots, and shared destiny.

Sovereign Soil

Keeping land in the hands of the families who work it.

Connect & stand with us

Plant your stake in the ground

Follow Savi's book, support the land-justice work, or step into the movement we're building. Tell us where your heart is — and we'll bring you in.

We honor your trust. Your details stay with us and the initiatives you choose — never sold.

Wear the movement

The Land · Legacy · Justice collection

Every piece carries the mark — and every purchase plants something bigger.

Savi Horne — Land, Legacy, Justice merch collection: mugs, three tee styles, cap, book, and themes

Mugs, three tee styles, a field cap, and the book — across three themes: the logo, the message, and the combination.

More than
merch.

Every tee, mug, and book is a seed. Proceeds flow into the Sovereign Soil Collective — underwriting land retention, farmer legal defense, and the next generation of land stewards. We use the collection to outfit events, thank donors, and turn supporters into walking billboards for land sovereignty. When you wear the mark, you're not buying a product — you're funding the movement.