How one basketball pro-turned-farmer is transforming Barbadian food systems and inspiring the next generation.
Barbados faces immense challenges with food security. Like many Caribbean countries, more than 90 per cent of its food is imported, meaning that fluctuations in global supply chains caused by issues like transportation limitations, natural disasters, climate change and infrastructural constraints can have a devastating effect on the island's access to produce.
That's where John Jones comes in: he set up Thirteen Acre Farms on Barbados' southeast coast with the aim of educating his country's youth about the value of Bajan-grown food, and to prove to the next generation that farming can be a viable career path.
Home and away
Farming wasn't always Jones' focus. He comes from an athletically gifted family (his sister even went to the 2016 Olympics in Rio as a heptathlete) and at 6ft 8in tall, it was perhaps inevitable that he would end up playing basketball. However, it was during a stint studying agriculture and agribusiness at Illinois State University that he became interested in farming, a passion that deepened while shooting hoops on courts around the globe.
His sporting career eventually took him to the opposite side of the world, where he spent eight months volunteering in South Australia, one of the Australia's biggest agribusiness hubs. "They had all different kinds of farming, from hydroponics to open field farming and sheep farming," Jones says. This time served as something of a crash course in hands-on farming practices and he soon returned to Barbados, ready to bring what he'd learned to his own community.
At Thirteen Acre Farms, Jones cultivates open-field tomatoes, purple sweet peppers and cauliflower alongside more commonly found sweet potatoes and watermelon
After spending three years working on farms across the island, in 2022 he set up Thirteen Acre Farms. Here, he grows staple crops like sweet potatoes, cassava, yams and watermelons and gives guided tours to children and school groups, educating them on the value of growing your own food and showing them that farming can offer a promising and rewarding future.
Future-proof farming
Since its inception, he estimates that around 8,000 children aged 4-13 have visited the farm, where they are invited to feed the animals, learn about their diets, sow seeds, harvest a crop and take seeds home with them to plant in their own spaces.
As part of his efforts to encourage local people to purchase from local farmers rather than imported goods, Jones set up Local Thursdays. Once a week, he fills a flatbed truck full of his produce and drives to a community hub, allowing his neighbours to purchase fresh produce from him directly. The community's response has been enthusiastic, and he's seen a big uptake in interest in local food. "Through this scheme, we're able to provide locally grown vegetables to around 1,000 people," he says.
The future of farming starts with inspiring the next generation, according to Jones
Jones also hopes to see a more developed relationship between local farmers and the island's hospitality industry, which is extremely reliant on imported food. "I really want to help close that gap between chef and farmer. When they're planning the next season's menu, I would love them to come to the farm and ask, 'hey, what's going to be good four months from now?'"
Hard graft
The ambition and drive Jones cultivated in his sporting career is very much present in his attitude to farming. "I still have it in me, that drive to wake up every day and fight for something. I think that gives me an edge over some others who might get complacent.
"This is a tough career and I make sure I share the hard times on my social media too. But I'm used to running laps at 4.30am as part of my training, so I'm used to pushing myself," he says.
Until now, Thirteen Acre Farms has been funded purely by the sales of its produce. Now, as the winner of the Champions of Change Award 2026, sponsored by Illy, Jones hopes to expand his offering of crops and set up a farm school using the Champions of Change grant.
This school, he explains, would not only continue his work introducing children to farming, but also teach adult farmers techniques including irrigation and soil tilling. "Kind of like a farming 101," he says. "I want to help farmers start correctly so that they can avoid certain mistakes and mishaps down the line."
Activities at Thirteen Acre Farms are entirely interactive and designed to engage Barbadian youth with local produce and animals
Renewed roots
While Jones has largely focused on hardy staple crops like sweet potato and cassava (which are particularly good at surviving the island's long rainy season), in the future he would love to bring back more fruit trees to the island. "For those of us on the island, we grew up eating local ackee, mangoes and citrus, but they seem to have been phased out in Barbados."
These trees take a long time to bear fruit, but plans are already in motion. "I've just invested in some ground cover so I can set up a nursery. Eventually, I'd love to give away fruit trees for free for people to cultivate themselves all over the island," he says.
Jones' hard work is not going unnoticed. In 2023, he received the Prime Minister's Youth Award for Innovation and Philanthropy in Barbados and in January 2026, he was appointed to the International Development Bank Group Bold Catalyst Board. In this position, he will work in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank Group Country Office Barbados to share perspectives and insights in support of the 2025-2030 Country Strategy, which seeks to accelerate Barbados' progress towards inclusive growth and resilience.
This sense of forward motion and tangiable, positive change is what's most important to Jones. "Development matters most when people can see themselves in it, and I'm proud to play a part in shaping that future for my country."
John Jones is the winner of the Champions of Change Award, sponsored by Illy, as part of North America's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The full list of restaurants will be revealed from New Orleans on 28 May.
