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'Not an act of God.' How the Rev. Richard Joyner became a farmer, then a climate activist

Rev. Richard Joyner, a 71-year-old pastor, has turned into a climate change activist after the farm he started out of his small Baptist church flooded during Hurricane Helene. The farm has flooded before and members of the congregation have suggested...

CONETOE, N.C. (RNS) — Congregants at Conetoe Chapel Missionary Baptist Church thought their pastor was crazy when he suggested his rural community take up farming as a way to improve their health and become more self-sufficient.

The small, predominantly Black community, about 80 miles east of Raleigh, is surrounded by vast, fertile farmland but has no grocery store for miles around. According to figures from the Census Bureau, 67% of the residents of Conetoe (pronounced Kuh-NEE-tuh) live below the poverty line..