black farmers

National

In one key swing state, both parties are courting Black men

8:01am September 22, 2024

With North Carolina now a toss-up this presidential election, both parties are making appeals to Black men. An older farmer and a younger restaurant owner share what's driving their votes.

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A photo of attendees at the Triad Black Farmers Market in 2023

Agriculture

Triad Black Farmers Market returns to Guilford County for Juneteenth

2:43pm June 17, 2024

by DJ Simmons

The event features Black farmers across the state selling fresh produce directly to those in the east Greensboro community.

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Lateef Dowdell watches the sunrise from what remains of land once belonging to his uncle Gil Alexander, who was the last active Black farmer in the community of Nicodemus, Kan., Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021.

Politics & Government

Black farmers worry new approach on "race neutral" lending leaves them in the shadows

5:00am February 26, 2023

by Ximena Bustillo

White farmers' suits blocked a USDA program and led to a race neutral approach.

Lucious Abrams, a plaintiff in the Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit, stands in front of a tractor on his Georgia farm.

Politics & Government

In 2022, Black farmers were persistently left behind from the USDA's loan system

10:38am February 19, 2023

by Ximena Bustillo

An NPR data analysis shows Black farmers were accepted for USDA direct loans at a lower rate than other racial groups in 2022. Direct loans are supposed to be among the easiest for farmers to get.

Ietef "DJ Cavem Moetavation" Vita plants seeds with daughter Libya LeaDonvita in the garden at their home outside Denver. Vita is among a growing list of Black gardening enthusiasts-turned-entrepreneurs across the country who've launched seed businesses d

Black Entrepreneurs Sow Seeds Of Healthier Eating During Pandemic Gardening Boom

7:29am May 19, 2021

by Chandra Thomas Whitfield

Denver-based rapper DJ Cavem Moetavation started pushing beats and beets by distributing free seeds. Black-owned companies like his are trying to encourage more people of color to grow their own food.

Rod Bradshaw, pictured in January 2021, says he's the last Black farmer in Hodgeman County, Kan. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with NPR about debt relief coming for Black farmers.

Black Farmers Have Long Faced Discrimination. New Aid Aims To Right Past Wrongs

5:34pm March 13, 2021

Generations of systemic discrimination have decimated the number of Black farmers in the U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack talked with NPR about new funding for debt relief.

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Daryl Minton, 45, throws chicken feed into a yard where the chickens roam at the Triple J Farm in Windsor, N.Y. Minton lives and works on the farm his grandfather, James Minton, bought it a decade ago. Between lending discrimination and rising costs, many

National

'Make Farmers Black Again': African Americans Fight Discrimination To Own Farmland

8:03am August 25, 2020

by Jillian Forstadt

There is a growing movement of young farmers led by people of color in the Northeast but barriers to accessing funding and land remain. The family behind Triple J Farm in Windsor, N.Y., knows this.

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Shirley Sherrod is co-founder of the New Communities Land Trust founded 50 years ago as a safe haven for African-American farmers thrown off their land during the civil rights movement.

5 Decades Later, New Communities Land Trust Still Helps Black Farmers

2:11pm October 03, 2019

by Debbie Elliott

October marks the 50th anniversary of a pioneering effort to provide a safe haven for black farmers evicted from their land as punishment for participating in the civil rights movement.

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Farmers pick crops at Soul Fire Farm in New York state. It's run by Leah Penniman, a farmer and activist working to diversify the farming community and reconnect people to their food.

Black Farmers Are Sowing The Seeds Of Health And Empowerment

7:48am December 16, 2017

by Alan Yu

More than nine of 10 farm owners in the U.S. are white. A movement to change that is selling farming to people of color as a healthy lifestyle — and a way to fight discrimination.

John Boyd Jr., with his father, John Boyd Sr.

Environment

Farmer John Boyd Jr. Wants African-Americans To Reconnect With Farming

10:43am February 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

The president of the National Black Farmers Association says African-Americans have a negative association with farming — and he wants that to change.

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