BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Recognition of struggles against inequity, accomplishments achieved and a positive outlook for the future were part of the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the National Black Farmers Assoc. (NBFA) at its annual conference in Birmingham earlier this month.
"Over the last 25 years, the nation’s black farmers have seen both successes and setbacks in our ongoing struggle to have the same opportunities others have always had access to," said John Boyd Jr., president of the NBFA, a fourth-generation farmer from Baskerville, Va., and the last living member of the organization’s founders.
"All we’ve asked is to be able to produce safe, affordable and abundant food for Americans with an equitable safety net for all family farmers regardless of race and color."
He explained the association was founded as a way to help African-American farmers all over the nation receive the same rights and benefits that other farmers enjoyed. They struggled for years from discrimination from the USDA, which denied them access to government credit, loans and subsidies.
"There was a report that came out that said it took 387 days to process a black farmer’s loan, versus less than 30 days to process a loan for a white farmer," said Boyd. "The top 10 percent in the U.S. farm subsidy program received over $1 million in farm subsidy or crop insurance benefits, versus less than $200 for a black farmer."
In 2007 research released jointly by the NBFA and Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit environmental organization that researches agriculture subsidies, showed black farmers received between one-third and one-sixth of the benefits under major federal crop subsidy programs that other farmers received.
When the group formed, its founders didn’t know the road to their goals was going to be such a long one. "The association was formed to address issues such as land retention and access to credit from the USDA. We didn’t think we’d still be out here 25 years later," Boyd said.
It has been filled with many hurdles and accomplishments, including: Pigford vs. Glickman, a landmark class action lawsuit that was the largest civil rights discrimination case in U.S. history; the lawsuit’s settlement and a subsequent additional settlement known as Pigford II; and appearing before Congress over the years to address not only the USDA’s discrimination against African-Americans but discrimination against other minorities such as Native Americans, Hispanics and women farmers.
"We had to go to Congress. The statute of limitations had expired on my case and many others. We had to lobby to get the statute lifted so that minority farm cases could move forward in federal court," Boyd explained.
In 2007 then-senator Barack Obama sponsored a measure allowing 80,000 black farmers to have their cases heard on merits. After years of pressing Congress for action, a bill was passed for $1.25 billion, the largest settlement in history for African-Americans.
President Obama signed The Claims Remedy Act on Dec. 8, 2010. Final checks for payments to farmers in the Pigford I and II cases, totaling nearly $2.5 billion, were mailed in 2013, 16 years after the initial lawsuit was filed. By that time, some farmers had already lost their farms and others had died while waiting for the settlements.
Boyd said while things have improved over the last 25 years, there are still many obstacles facing black farmers today. "We’re in the year 2015 and we’re still talking about race, whether it’s in farming or police brutality or all of these other issues that are keeping our country from moving forward," he said.
"From the overall standpoint of the USDA and this White House, things certainly have really improved. But we still have a lot of issues remaining with Fortune 500 companies, getting into the main culture of agriculture and agribusiness as a partner and in trying to get our farmers in local markets that are pretty much run by the big boys such as ADM, Cargill and some of the other outfits."
Boyd said black farmers still face discrimination when they go to market to sell their crops, where they’re offered less than market price while white farmers are afforded market price for theirs.
"(The African-American farmers) are not going to take (the crops) back home, because they need the money. I think a lot of these big companies prey on that. I’ve been urging these big Fortune 500 companies to treat black farmers with dignity and respect. It’s been my message that just because we’re poor doesn’t mean you can take advantage of us," he explained.
Boyd wants to work with large companies to show them African-American farmers can be a huge advantage to them.
While he is willing to leave some injustices in the past, there is one thing that did not happen during his battle against the USDA that still haunts him. "Nobody was fired when they said, ‘Hey, this person had the most (discrimination) complaints. That person shouldn’t be working for the government anymore.’ That part never happened. That part was difficult for me.
