{"id":28869,"date":"2021-03-12T00:01:26","date_gmt":"2021-03-12T04:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=28869"},"modified":"2021-03-12T11:57:56","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T15:57:56","slug":"relief-bill-seeks-to-correct-injustices-for-black-farmers-historically-and-by-modern-day-usda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/03\/relief-bill-seeks-to-correct-injustices-for-black-farmers-historically-and-by-modern-day-usda\/","title":{"rendered":"Relief Bill Seeks to Correct Injustices for Black Farmers Historically and by Modern Day USDA"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, March 12, 2021)\u00a0The American Rescue Plan<\/a>, legislation that will provide nearly $2 trillion to help a broad variety of people, state and local governments, and businesses struggling with the huge and myriad impacts of the COVID pandemic, has a number of less-touted features embedded in it. One of those is that $5.2 billion of the bill\u2019s funds will be directed to help disadvantaged farmers, 25% of whom are Black; thus, approximately $1.3 billion will directly support Black farmers. As reported by The Washington Post<\/em><\/a> and other outlets, advocates are calling this \u201ca step toward righting a wrong after a century of mistreatment of Black farmers by the government and others,\u201d and a boon to Black farmers not seen since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The bill, passed by the U.S. Senate and House, was signed by President Biden on March 11.<\/p>\r\n

The bill will provide a menu of benefits to Black farmers, including: debt relief; grants and loans to improve land acquisition and address heritable property issues, such as when a farmer dies intestate (without a will) and land assets are to be allotted to legal heirs; financial support for research, and education and training programs; and establishment of a racial equity commission to address systemic racism at the USDA.<\/p>\r\n

Given the urgency of the needs to transition to organic, regenerative agriculture<\/a>, and to contend with the environmental injustices<\/a> imposed on communities of color, the ability for Black farmers to thrive and participate fully in these issues is critical. Beyond Pesticides wrote, early in March<\/a>, \u201cThe greatest impediment to entering organic farming is access to land. Since organic farming requires a long-term commitment to avoiding prohibited substances, building soil, and conserving biodiversity, it is difficult to manage on rented land or land farmed on \u2018shares.\u2019 Black, Indigenous, and other people of color are especially disadvantaged because of institutionalized racism embodied in U.S. policies, which has either prevented access or has undermined land ownership.\u201d The support for Black farming housed within the American Rescue Plan has the potential to be a good beginning boost to the goals of thriving Black farmland ownership and production, and contributions to a less-toxic agricultural sector.<\/p>\r\n

The nature of the relationships between Black people, and the North American lands on which they have lived during the past four centuries is a study in the impacts of racism and colonialism since European arrival in North America. Black Americans\u2019 ability to farm, especially on land that they themselves own, has been thwarted since the moment of the Emancipation Proclamation, when formerly enslaved people could consider agriculture as a relatively ready step to economic independence (given the farming knowledge and skills most had possessed or been forced to develop and use under slavery). The various kinds of discrimination deployed during the ensuing century and a half, from the post-Reconstruction backlash, to the long period of Jim Crow laws and practices, to current institutional codifications, have made it challenging for Black farmers to own land and to thrive as farmers.<\/p>\r\n

Some metrics<\/a> will help tell this story. In 1910, one in seven (14.3%) of U.S. farmers was Black. That proportion has dropped since 1910 to a mere 1.3%, or 45,000 of the current 3.4 million U.S. farmers. The average Black-owned farm comprises 100 acres, whereas the average white-owned farm is 440 acres. The average farm income of a full-time white farmer in 2017 was $17,190, while the average full-time Black farmer saw $2,408 in on-farm income. Farmland ownership by African-Americans peaked in the U.S. in 1910 at 16\u201319 million acres, or 14% of all U.S. agricultural land.<\/p>\r\n

By 2010, 90% of that ownership, and the wealth it represented, was lost \u2014 dispossessed, as Beyond Pesticides wrote,<\/a> \u201cthrough discriminatory practices at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and various federal programs.\u201d White farmers now own 98% of farmland acres in the country. The 12 million acres of Black-owned farmland lost between 1910 and 2010 represent a devastating erosion of the economic well-being of Black families and communities. Agricultural experts and Black farming advocates assert<\/a> that this loss, much of which has occurred since the 1950s, is the result of \u201ca combination of systemic racism, biased government policy, and social and business practices that have denied African Americans equitable access to markets.\u201d<\/p>\r\n

The historic and current damage and threats to Black farmers have garnered increasing attention in recent years. Advocates, members of the public, and some Democrats have called more vigorously for compensation of various sorts \u2014 some termed \u201creparations\u201d \u2014 to African Americans for the ongoing impacts of slavery, discrimination, and segregation. This conversation has increasingly extended to the plight of Black farming and land ownership.<\/p>\r\n

Beyond Pesticides recently covered<\/a> two legislative initiatives that seek diversity and equity in agricultural policy: (1) Senator Cory Booker\u2019s Justice for Black Farmers Act<\/a> (co-sponsored by Senators Warren, Leahy, Warnock, Gillibrand, and Smith), which addresses the history of USDA injustice and discrimination toward Black farmers; and (2) Senator Raphael Warnock\u2019s\u00a0Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act<\/a>, which would provide $5 billion to farmers of color. Across the bills, obstacles to Black farmer success are addressed through aspects of the legislation:<\/p>\r\n