They're here. They're queer. They're farming. New generation of LGBTQ farmers more visible and vocal.
Laid off by a bar during the COVID pandemic, Jarvi Schneider turned to the internet for job leads.
The Chicago Botanic Garden was offering a training program for would-be farmers that included paid, hands-on experience, and Schneider signed up. That led to a business class and four years growing vegetables at a shared plot in Bronzeville.
Now Schneider, who is transgender and uses they/them pronouns, is taking the next step with their spouse, Soraya Alem.
The couple is leasing a 43-acre farm in McHenry County, with the intention to buy.
“Unlike a regular job that you go to, where maybe it’s not what you want to be doing, it’s rewarding to have a spiritual and emotional connection to what you’re doing,” Schneider, 36, said of farming. “And then it’s also it’s your business, and you’re in charge of it.”
Schneider and Alem are part of a new wave of LGBTQ farmers who are more visible and better organized than previous generations, with “convergences” — or regional grassroots gatherings, support resources such as the Queer Farmer Network and farm websites that include the owners’ LGBTQ identities.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/04/illinois-queer-farmers-lgbtq/
Back to the smaller farm again.
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