Champion Farmer Equity & Justice for Black Farmers
Background
The U.S. is built on a long history of disenfranchisement and land theft, which continues to have significant repercussions today. The legalized enslavement of Black people built the U.S. economy,[1] and yet, with few exceptions, formerly enslaved people and their descendants have seen little of the country’s wealth. In fact, gains in land ownership by Black Southerners following the Civil War were erased over the following century, mostly through threats, violence, and systemic discrimination, including by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) itself.[2] In 1910, Black farmers accounted for 20 percent of farmers[3]; by 2017, that number had dropped to 1.3 percent.[4] Black land ownership has plummeted by 98 percent in the last century, with most of the loss occurring not in the late 1800s, but just since the 1950s.[5]
In the last few years, policy efforts have been introduced at the federal and state levels to address this long legacy. The federal Justice for Black Farmers Act is a landmark proposal that would address access to land, training, credit, and much more for Black and other socially disadvantaged farmers, along with systemic changes to level the playing field for all farmers. State policymakers across the country have drawn on parts of this legislation to develop and organize around a variety of state-level reforms. A movement is also growing in legislatures to secure the legal rights of heirs property holders,[6],[7] an issue that impacts not just Black rural landholders but numerous other disenfranchised property-holders as well.[8],[9] From securing funding in state budgets for Black farmers to bills that uplift stories and narratives of Black farmers, working toward restorative racial justice can happen in many ways.
theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/this-land-was-our-land/594742/.[3] USDA Rural Business – Cooperative Service. United States Department of Agriculture, 2002, Black Farmers in America, 1865-2000: The Pursuit of Independent Farming and the Role of Cooperatives. https://www.rd.usda.gov
/files/RR194.pdf.[4] USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. United States Department of Agriculture, 2017, 2017 Census of Agriculture Highlights: Farm Producers, https://www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2019/2017Census
_Farm_Producers.pdf.
[5] Newkirk, Vann R., II. “The Mississippi Delta’s history of Black-Land theft.” The Atlantic, 11 Dec. 2024, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/09/this-land-was-our-land/594742.
[6] “Black Lands Matter: The Movement to Transform Heirs’ Property Laws.” The Nation, 25 Sept. 2019, www.thenation.com/article/archive/heirs-property-reform.
[7] Presser, Lizzie. “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.” ProPublica, 15 July 2019, features.propublica.org/black-land-loss/heirs-property-rights-why-black-families-lose-land-south.
[8] Douglas, Leah. “African Americans Have Lost Untold Acres of Land Over the Last Century.” The Nation, 26 June 2017, www.thenation.com/article/archive/african-americans-have-lost-acres.
[9] Bradley-Smith, Anna. “New York Protects Homeowners From ‘Predatory’ Sales.” Brownstoner, 24 July 2024, www.brownstoner.com/real-estate-market/deed-theft-partition-sales-homeowner-protections-new-york-state-law-july-2024.
Policy Priorities
- Federal: Pass the Justice for Black Farmers Act, a bill that would establish a federal land grant program to create a new generation of Black farmers, expand access to credit, direct the USDA to end historic discrimination, and create systemic reforms to level the playing field for entry into farming.
- State: Pass the Partition of Heirs Property Act, an important protection for landowners against a forced or predatory sale.
- State: Include equity provisions for Black, Indigenous, and other farmers of color in all types of agriculture policy.
- State: End discrimination in lending practices and grant-making for Black farmers.
- State: Restore Black land ownership.
State Examples
- Twenty-four states have enacted the Partition of Heirs Property Act, with Michigan (2023 MI HB 4924) being the most recent.[10]
- North Carolina (2021 NC SB 694), South Carolina (2023 SC HB 3540), Maine (2023 ME HB 1274) and Illinois (2023 IL HB 56) lawmakers have proposed legislation to restore agricultural land to Black farmers.
- Washington (2021 WA HB 1395) passed a law directing state agencies to ensure inclusion of historically underrepresented and socially disadvantaged farmers in programming.
- A Minnesota (2023 MN HB 1057) Down Payment Assistance Grant program includes provisions to ensure funds go to small and other “emerging” farmers, including farmers of color.[11]
- California (2019 CA AB 986) proposed a program to provide grants to socially disadvantaged farmers, including Native tribes, to acquire agricultural land.
- Maine passed a law (2021 ME HP 5) to ensure the inclusion of racial impact statements in the legislative process.
- Illinois lawmakers passed (2024 IL HR 625) creating a Black Farmer Appreciation Week, considered a proposal (2021 IL HB 3089) to require that 20 percent of food purchased by state agencies be produced by socially disadvantaged farmers, and considered a bill (2023 IL HB 2557) to establish the Farmer Equity and Innovation Center at the University of Illinois Extension to ensure the continued economic viability of small-scale and moderate-scale diversified farms and ranches.
[10] “Partition of Heirs Property Act – Uniform Law Commission.” Higher Logic, LLC, www.uniformlaws.org/committees/community-home?communitykey=50724584-e808-4255-bc5d-8ea4e588371d&tab=groupdetails.
[11] Down Payment Assistance Grant | Minnesota Department of Agriculture. www.mda.state.mn.us/business-dev-loans-grants/down-payment-assistance-grant.
Toolkits
Inspired? Ready to dig in on these issues with your rural neighbors? Our practical communications toolkits will help you connect with new communities through common values. The toolkits provide examples on narrative framing, press release templates, sample talking points, and more.
Click here for the communications toolkit on Growing Equitable Food Systems.