8:04
- ABC News
- June 18, 2021
Black farmers fight to keep their land
“It’s about fairness,” John Boyd Jr., a farmer and fierce advocate, said.
8:04
The USDA said in a statement to ABC News that it did include the word \"negro\" on the application Boyd referenced until at least 1988 and that it used the terms \"Black\" or \"African American\" since then. It also said the \"scenario\" Boyd recalled with regard to Wednesdays \"is a reprehensible one, but we have no information to support the claim.\"
\"It is clear that for much of the history of the USDA, Black, Hispanic, Native American, Asian American and other minority farmers have faced discrimination -- sometimes overt and sometimes through deeply embedded rules and policies -- that have prevented them from achieving as much as their counterparts who do not face these documented acts of discrimination,\" the USDA said in its statement. \"We are committed to building a different USDA, one that is committed to equality and justice, celebrates diversity and is inclusive of all customers.\"
Boyd said that since 1995, “a half-trillion dollars -- with a ‘T’ -- have been paid out to large-scale farmers in this country in the form of just subsidies” by the USDA.
\"That doesn’t include farm ownership loans, farm equipment loans, any of those things, and little to none has went to Black farmers,\" he said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/SoulFireFarm-1-SOAN-AR-210615_1623777595967_hpEmbed_25x14_384.jpg\")
In 1999, the USDA settled the class action lawsuit Pigford v. Glickman, and eventually paid more than $1 billion to Black farmers, who claimed they were unfairly denied loans and other government assistance.
“It’s about fairness,” Boyd said. “It’s about dignity and respect.”
Signs of turning tide
For Black farmers, the tide is showing signs of turning. In March, President Joe Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act, a nearly $2 trillion law that directed $5 billion to farmers of color. Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, co-sponsored the bill, which is meant to provide additional relief to Americans impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The COVID-19 pandemic both illuminated and exacerbated long-standing health disparities and economic disparities,” Warnock told ABC News.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/RaphaelWarnock-1-SOAN-AR-210615_1623777595965_hpEmbed_9x5_384.jpg\")
Lestor Bonner, a Vietnam War veteran and fifth-generation farm owner, said that in 1893, his great-grandfather bought the farm that he now works on. He said there’s only 136 acres left and that he needs $20,000 to save it from foreclosure. The relief money, he said, could help jumpstart his business after a difficult year living through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bonner said he thought he would have the money by now “so I could get a crop in the ground this year,” he told ABC News.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/LestorBonner-1-SOAN-AR-210615_1623777595959_hpEmbed_25x14_384.jpg\")
As part of the American Rescue Plan Act, the USDA had set up a loan forgiveness program that would have helped Bonner pay off his outstanding loans, as well as pay for supplies and equipment to help him continue farming. But this month, a federal judge in Wisconsin ordered the government agency to stop forgiving loans, saying the program unconstitutionally uses race as a factor in determining who is eligible.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/LestorJohnBoyd-1-SOAN-AR-210615_1623777595962_hpEmbed_16x9_384.jpg\")
Penniman says her organization’s mission is to help Black farmers hold onto their land, as well as to introduce young Black potential farmers to the occupation (the average age of Black farmers is over 60).
“We have between one and 2,000 folks who come through for these courses every single year at the farm to learn everything from taking care of the soil to planting a seed,” she said.
![\"PHOTO:](\"http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/Leah-Penniman-1-SOAN-AR-210614_1623777595970_hpEmbed_16x9_384.jpg\")
Penniman said that many important agricultural techniques, including many of the practices in organic farming, like raised beds, composting and cover-cropping “come out of an Afro-indigenous tradition.”
Boyd, for his part, said he’s “proud and excited to see young people” taking an interest in land ownership and farming.
“There’s a new generation of Black farmers. I love that win,” he said. “So, I welcome them to the fight and welcome them as farmers and stewards of the land and contributors to agriculture and the fruit base in this country. That’s what my fight is all about.”
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