US Small Farmers and Racism
For three decades, Oxfam partner the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund has sought to help African-American farmers stay on their land and maintain the viability of their farms.
by Meredith Flanagan and Laura Inoyue
All across the United States, small farms have been going out of business at an alarming rate, but the struggle for African-American farmers is particularly acute. Not only are black farmers trying to compete against increasingly large and powerful corporate agribusinesses, they are also trying to survive in a system that continues to discriminate on the basis of race.
Black farmers reached their peak of land ownership in 1910, when more then 218,000 black farmers owned more then 15 million acres of farmland. By 1978 their landholdings had been reduced to 4.2 million acres. The 1980s were no kinder to the black farmer whose ranks declined by 30 percent, while white farmers experienced a decrease of 6.6 percent. In 1999 an estimated 18,000 black farmers owned just 2.3 million acres of land -- less than one-quarter of what they had owned just a decade earlier.
In 1982, a report by the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights charged that systematic racism carried out by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) was one of the major causes of land loss among black farmers. The Commission found that USDA employees had routinely denied black farmers credit and information about USDA programs that was readily accessible to white farmers. The situation was considered so dire, the Commission projected that if nothing were done, black-owned farms would cease to exist by the year 2000. In 1990, a report issued by Congress’s House Committee on Government Operations concluded that little had changed for the black farmer since the 1982 report had been published.
Black Farmers Unite for Equity
For three decades, Oxfam partner the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund has sought to help African-American farmers, often with the smallest farms and on the brink of poverty, stay on their land and maintain the viability of their farms. The Federation, whose members include 20,000 farming families throughout the Southeast, provides technical and financial assistance and helps farmers form cooperatives to improve their marketability. At the national level, the Federation advocates for fair farm policies and against discriminatory practices.
In 1997, a class action suit on behalf of 600 African-American farmers, many of them members of the Federation, was filed against the USDA, seeking monetary compensation for decades of discrimination. The suit, known as Pigford vs. Glickman, charged that USDA credit programs had neglected small farmers, particularly minority farmers, and that mergers, acquisitions, and government policy had facilitated the conglomeration of agricultural land into larger farms. In January 1999 a settlement was reached, providing an opportunity for black farmers to submit claims for financial restitution. Farmers who could meet the criteria would be eligible for a cash payment of up to $50,000 and forgiveness of any debts owed to the USDA. Farmers who could prove they had suffered losses greater than $50,000 could apply for greater amounts.
However, in implementing the restitution program, the USDA developed criteria that required information most farmers could not provide. For example, each farmer was not only required to document that they were denied a loan, they were also required to identify a white farmer who received a loan that the claimant did not receive. As a result, of the 22, 686 claims filed, 40 percent were denied, largely because of sufficient documentation. Those farmers who received payments were able to pay off some of their debts, but it was not enough. Many had already gone out of business. Others have been able to keep their land, but because they lack the resources or credit, they are forced leave it fallow.
Many black farmers have criticized the settlement, feeling that they should have gotten more money that would have had a greater impact on their lives. Others feel that the settlement should have addressed the problems within the USDA that allowed decades of discrimination to take place. Yet many others see this as a landmark case with monumental implications for the black community. J.L. Chestnut, one of the lawyers for the farmers, said, “This is the first time that African Americans, in an organized fashion, have addressed together the question of wealth, money, land and income . . . we're trying to send a message to all of black America -- to raise black folks to another level. This law suit is the beginning."
"This is the first time that African Americans, in an organized fashion, have addressed together the question of wealth, money, land and income . . . we're trying to send a message to all of Black America -- to raise black folks to another level. This law suit is the beginning." -- J.L. Chestnut
"Black farmers were told by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that their debts would be forgiven and they were promised compensation, but even when a farmer proved they had been discriminated against they found that those promises were empty." -- Shirley Sherrod, Federation of Southern Cooperatives