LEXINGTON, KY – Kentucky State University has been awarded $249,583 in federal funding through a program that supports research efforts at historically Black land-grant colleges and universities. The agency is investing $21.8 million across the nation. The overall investment by the USDA will fund 58 projects.

The funds will help train small-scale, minority and socially disadvantaged farmers and producers to develop strategies for handling produce and developing products that comply with federal regulations. Other projects include research on Kentucky beekeeping practices and educating students on the role of artificial intelligence in agriculture.

Kentucky State University, founded in 1886, is the state’s only public historically Black university. 

Black farmers in Kentucky represent just 1.4 percent of the primary farm operators in the state and account for less than 600 of the more than 76,000 agricultural operations in Kentucky, according to statistics from Black Soil, an organization that provides support to Black farmers. 

In Kentucky, small farms are not only disappearing but so are Black farmers. Kentucky is one of 16 states that collectively account for 95 percent of the nation’s Black farmers, along with Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, California, Michigan and Maryland. The latest Census shows that the number of Black farmers in Kentucky declined from 928 in 1978 to 385 in 2017. Meanwhile, over the same period, the share of the state’s farmland held in farms of 1,000 acres or larger increased from 7.3 percent to 26.9 percent, Black Soil reported.

Jim Coleman, of Lexington, knows first-hand the plight of the Black farmer in Kentucky. He’s busy restoring Coleman Crest Farm, his family’s 13-acre farm, founded in 1888 and believed to be the oldest Black-owned farm in Lexington. There, in the community of Utteringtown, Coleman hopes to have the farm certified as a producer of organic vegetables.

Coleman didn’t access a USDA loan, so he’s not eligible for the debt forgiveness being offered to Black farmers right now, but he’s found something just as helpful in his opinion. He’s turned to Black Soil.

Black Soil is Kentucky’s only agritourism company dedicated to reconnecting Black Kentuckians to their heritage and legacy in agriculture. The company was founded by Trevor Claiborn and Ashley Smith and headquartered in Fayette County.

Black Soil conducts year-round events, including farm tours, farm-to-table dinners and off-season workshops where Black farmers, growers and producers can congregate and educate themselves on the narratives, experience and expertise of partner Black farmers.

“I do believe that the biggest thing that is missing for a lot of African American farmers is the whole area of technical assistance and advice,” Coleman said. “How do you improve your credit, how do you find customers before you plant, how do you get better financing, how do you talk to a bank to make them believe in your vision? That’s what I’ve gotten from Black Soil, and that’s what most Black farmers need.”

Just a few miles away on a 12-acre farm resides Kenya Abraham, a Black female Muslim farmer. Her passion for farming keeps her going strong, even on the toughest days. She, too, shares Coleman’s belief in the mission of the Black Soil organization.

“Black Soil has introduced me to many opportunities,” she said. “Being a brown milk dairy farmer they have given me center stage for a lot of opportunities with other organizations, people in the community, and networking in general, as to highlight what I do as a Black farmer.”

Through the ever-changing agricultural environment in Kentucky and elsewhere, many farmers of color like Coleman and Abraham have persevered. Many others, though, have struggled to extinction. According to recent statistics, farms owned by African Americans make up less than 2 percent of the total farms in the U.S. The federal funding of Kentucky State University may help change the lives of many minorities.

“Our 1890 land-grant universities are an integral part of our nation’s fabric,” said USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack in a press release. “We are pleased to be able to build the research and training capacity of these critical institutions as they develop the next generation of leaders in agriculture.”