In 1920, almost one million Black farmers across the country provided food for the US. A century later, there are less than 50,000. Farmers nowadays are 98 percent white. The remaining two percent are for everyone else, not just African Americans. It includes indeginous farmers, Hispanic farmers, and all other minority groups. Racial disparity is becoming more and more obvious as time goes on.
This isn’t just something that happened out of the blue. These statistics have skewed towards white males for decades. Since the USDA’s creation in 1862, there has only been one female secretary of agriculture and one black male secretary. The rest have been older white men. And the Biden Administration is no different. There was hope that President Biden would nominate a black female to be the secretary of agriculture. But Tom Vilsak became nominated and confirmed by Congress instead.
USDA Complaints
Tom Vilsak was previously the secretary of agriculture under President Obama, but he didn’t have the greatest track record. Between 2006 and 2016, African American-owned farms saw foreclosure at a rate of 13 percent. The USDA offers loans to help farmers pay for supplies and equipment to help farms start up and keep going. Unfortunately, of those foreclosed farms owned by African Americans, only three percent had USDA direct-loans.
The USDA now has a backlog of over 14,000 discrimination complaints that date back to 2009. In the last decade, farmers still hadn’t received any kind of compensation or help for these complaints. This has started to change just recently.
Senator Cory Booker
At the end of 2020, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker (D) introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act. Under this bill, African American farmers would receive different levels of support for their farms. Land grants would be issued to make up for land losses from generation to generation as well as foreclosure of areas of land farmers could no longer afford.
The Justice For Black Farmers Act would also allocate additional debt relief and research funds for historically Black colleges and universities. By offering debt relief, farmers and young people interested in pursuing agriculture can continue their work and expand their knowledge of agriculture.
Additionally, Senator Booker created the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act. Co-sponsored with Senator Raphael Warnack (D) of Georgia, it would require the USDA to make payments to farmers of color equal to 120 percent of all their direct loans as well as USDA backed loans. The idea is the USDA sponsorship should prevent all those who provide food for the country from foreclosure.
Unfortunate Restrictions
The definition of eligible farmers is any group of members who have been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice. It’s targeted towards African American farmers, but all minorities would qualify for this relief fund. While the exact act didn’t pass Congress, a similar act became added in the last spending bill. It offers relief to farmers. Up until now, farmers haven’t received much relief or loans in response to Covid-19.
But farmers haven’t been compensated much over the past few decades. Former President Trump approved the USDA’s Farm Bill at the end of 2018. Under this bill, industrial hemp – which contains less than 0.3 percent of Delta 9 in products – became federally legal. After this, many states adopted the same definition of industrial hemp. Hemp is grown across the country and is in high demand as more CBD and Delta 8 products become available. Demand continues to increase among the general public. And hemp industry growers are experiencing even further disparities for new farmers of color and gender.
But again, the USDA continues to put limitations on those who can apply for licenses and can grow hemp beyond individual state laws. There is a 10 year restriction on obtaining a hemp license for anyone with a drug felony. This discriminates against African Americans. They are up to four times as likely to be charged with a drug conviction. Compare that to their white counterparts who aren’t charged at the same rate, despite everyone using drugs the same amount.
“Social Equity”
Some may argue there is social equity present in the Farm Bill as well as various hemp and cannabis bills in individual states. But activists say that they are never enough. The 10 year restriction is a good example of the lack of social equity. Certain people aren’t allowed to get a license, and those happen to be the ones who are more discriminated against.
“If equity was really in place, we would be put in the front of the line,” Gagan Hunter, the CEO of Mother Earth’s Bounty, said. Their store offers natural cannabis products and has been in business for nearly 20 years. But it hasn’t always been easy. People expected Hunter to fail, and to return to the major city she and her family came from. They didn’t offer help, but Hunter succeeded anyway. That’s the mentality that African American farmers continue to hold on to today. They can do this, it’s just not as easy unfortunately.
Continued Improvement
Senator Booker’s original Justice for Black Farmers Act died in the Senate shortly after its introduction as the session came to a close. Any bills approved at any stage need to go through the legislative process once again at the start of the next session. So Senator Booker did just that. The Justice for Black Farmers Act is now awaiting a hearing in a Senate committee. It will be heard there before heading to the Senate floor for a full vote and discussion.
“The Justice for Black Farmers Act will address and correct USDA discrimination and take bold steps to forgive debt and restore the land that has been lost in order to empower a new generation of Black farmers to succeed and thrive,” the Senator said when he filed the bill.
Future
All African American and minority farmers can do now is wait for the equal benefits the USDA has intended to provide all along. And it’s not an easy wait. Farming is a lonely profession. And many who aren’t in the majority will find themselves deprived of help. Hopefully things will begin to change, starting with the latest spending bill as well as Senator Booker’s new Act currently in the US Senate.
Make sure to check back for more cannabis and hemp related issues.