Farmer Inclusion Program Overview
“Working with African American farmers in the Southeast U.S. compels us to adjust our conceptual and programmatic focus, from ‘equity’ – ensuring parity in access to information – to ‘social justice’ – considering how information has been or can be used to marginalize or to empower disadvantaged groups.” (Social Justice in Climate Services, Furman, et. al, 2014)
As a global organization, Nature for Justice (N4J) harnesses nature-based solutions to advance social justice for frontline populations confronting the climate crisis. The Farmer Inclusion Program is N4J’s core U.S. initiative and is currently launching in North Carolina. We focus on Black and Indigenous smallholder farmers and farm owners, as well as other farmers and farm owners of color to expand their access to existing resources and build their climate resilience.
Our Approach
The North Carolina agricultural justice landscape is a diverse and well-established field. N4J’s goal is to be additive to this landscape; wherever possible, we will support and convene existing networks or groups of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC) farmers through local partners. We also compensate local BIPOC farmers and BIPOC-led farmer organizations for sharing their time, networks, and expertise with us and others.
Peer-to-Peer Learning through Networks
We will support networks of BIPOC farmers that want to implement specific climate or environmental interventions such as water access or efficiency, new cover crops, or regenerative agriculture. These networks will receive financial support for implementing new approaches on their own farms, compensation for their input and insights as they network and share lessons learned, and subject-matter expert technical support.
We will launch the first cohort in spring 2023 for growers with plans for regenerative or organic practices but needing additional financial or technical support to begin implementation.
Black and Indigenous communities have a long history of implementing regenerative agricultural practices but face some of the highest barriers to keeping access to their land much less these practices. Historically, Black farmers held almost 25 percent of farms in North Carolina; now it’s three percent, or less than 1,500 farms. At the same time, with less than two percent of US land farmed as organic and even less with regenerative or restorative practices, industrial agriculture contributes to an overwhelming amount of climate emissions; habitat loss; soil erosion; and water, land, and air pollution—impacting frontline farming communities.
The Farmer Inclusion Program seeks to increase Black and Indigenous farmers’ access to resources and strengthen climate resilience through social justice approaches and a focus on regenerative agriculture.
Subject-Matter Experts and Local Partners
- Increase BIPOC farmer engagement and recruit new producers to increase inclusivity in historically exclusive environments
- Structure, facilitate, or support the implementing cohorts
- Customize service offerings for the wider Program and specific regional priorities
- Share technical and financial resources or programs with BIPOC smallholder farmers that complement their existing regenerative practices
- Support N4J in bringing awareness to discriminatory practices that historically and currently exclude BIPOC farmers from resources and suggest alternative practices
- Provide feedback on how N4J can leverage its relationships and funding to improve access to climate resources
The Team
Nature for Justice is also seeking a Director of Farmer Inclusion to replace our interim Director. Please circulate this announcement within your networks and share any feedback you have on how N4J and this specific role can best engage with you and our wider community!
This work is made possible through partnerships with The Kenan Charitable Trust, The Walmart Foundation, and other donors.
Resources
The following Resources section includes a collection of U.S. government publications, news articles, scholarly publications and listing of Black farmers and their market. We will periodically update this collection. You can also read more about our approach to this important issue on this blog post.
Resources
2017 Census of Agriculture, Highlights: Farm Producers
Revised census questions provide expanded demographic information
Census of Agriculture – Highlights: Black Producers up 5 percent since 2012; one-fifth serve or have served in the military
2017 Census of Agriculture, Highlights: Black Farmers Up 12 percent since 2007; most live in southern states.
Black Farmers in America, 1865-2000 The Pursuit of Independent Farming and the Role of Cooperative
Who Owns the Land? Agricultural Land Ownership by Race/Ethnicity
Chapter IV: Farm Statistics by Color and Tenure of Farmer (1920)
Black Farmers Fear Foreclosure as Debt Relief Remains Frozen
Black US farmers awaiting billions in promised debt relief
What’s in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 for Agriculture?
Relief bill is most significant legislation for Black farmers since Civil Rights Act, experts say
$5 billion would go to farmers of color, who have lost 90 percent of their land over the past century because of systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt
Black Farmers May Finally Get the Help They Deserve
A debt-relief program would be a step in repairing more than a century of discrimination by the Department of Agriculture.
‘Tired of getting slapped in the face’: older Black farmers see little hope in Biden’s agriculture pick
Two Biden Priorities, Climate and Inequality, Meet on Black-Owned Farms
The administration has pledged to make agriculture a cornerstone of its plan to fight warming, but also to tackle a legacy of discrimination that has pushed Black farmers off the land.
‘Jim Crow’ Land Ownership Spurs Black Farmers’ Appeals to Biden
USDA issued billions in subsidies this year. Black farmers are still waiting for their share.
“We have lived under economic terrorism for decades,” said Georgia farmer Eddie Slaughter. Subsidies issued during Covid-19 are just another form of exclusion, he and other farmers say.
‘Make Farmers Black Again’: African Americans Fight Discrimination To Own Farmland
There were nearly a million black farmers in 1920. Why have they disappeared?
Today there are just 45,000 African American farmers. One man is fighting to save them.
Widening Farm Subsidy Gap Is Leaving Black Farmers Further Behind
Booker, Warren, Gillibrand Announce Comprehensive Bill to Address the History of Discrimination in Federal Agricultural Policy
The Justice for Black Farmers Act will reform the U.S. Department of Agriculture and create a land grant program to encourage a new generation of Black farmers
