April 2021

Good News! The American Rescue Plan Act 2021 provides historic debt relief to Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, and other farmers of color. For generations, socially disadvantaged farmers have struggled to fully succeed due to systemic discrimination and a cycle of debt. This struggle is exacerbated by a disproportionate amount of COVID-19 infection rates, loss of property, hospitalizations, death, and economic hurt amongst socially disadvantaged groups.  The funding will provide debt relief as well as grants, training, education and other forms of assistance aimed at acquiring land.

Learn more about ARPA and why it’s needed::

Fact sheet from the USDA
How Racism Has Shaped American Farming Landscape

Details about how ARPA will benefit BIPOC communities:

“Of the $10.4 billion in the American Rescue Plan that would support agriculture, about half would go to disadvantaged farmers, according to estimates from the Farm Bureau, an industry organization. About a quarter of disadvantaged farmers are Black. The money would provide debt relief as well as grants, training, education and other forms of assistance aimed at acquiring land. While it’s a relatively small fraction of the $1.9 trillion bill, advocates say it still represents a step toward righting a wrong after a century of mistreatment of Black farmers by the government and others. Some say it is a form of reparations for African Americans who have suffered a long history of racial oppression.” Read more from Relief Bill is Most Significant Legislation for Black Farmers Since Civil Rights Act

“As Euro-Americans settled permanently on the most fertile North American lands and acquired seeds that Native growers had carefully bred, they imposed policies that made Native farming practices impossible. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which made it official U.S. policy to force Native peoples from their home locations, pushing them onto subpar lands. Today Native people all over the U.S. are working diligently to reclaim Indigenous varieties of corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and other crops. This effort is important for many reasons. Improving Native people’s access to healthy, culturally appropriate foods will help lower rates of diabetes and obesity, which affect Native Americans at disproportionately high rates. Sharing traditional knowledge about agriculture is a way for elders to pass cultural information along to younger generations. Indigenous growing techniques also protect the lands that Native nations now inhabit, and can potentially benefit the wider ecosystems around them.” Read more from Regrowing Indigenous Agriculture Could Nourish People, Cultures and the Land

“Seeds are a vibrant and vital foundation for food sovereignty, and are the basis for a sustainable, healthy agriculture. We understand that seeds are our precious collective inheritance and it is our responsibility to care for the seeds as part of our responsibility to feed and nourish ourselves and future generations. Seeds are a vibrant and vital foundation for food sovereignty, and are the basis for a sustainable, healthy agriculture. We understand that seeds are our precious collective inheritance and it is our responsibility to care for the seeds as part of our responsibility to feed and nourish ourselves and future generations. The mission of the Indigenous See Keepers Network (ISKN) is to nourish and assist the growing Seed Sovereignty Movement across Turtle Island (North America). As a national network, we leverage resources and cultivate solidarity and communication within the matrix of regional grass-roots tribal seed sovereignty projects.” Read more from Returning the ‘Three Sisters’ to Native American Farmers

There are two significant dimensions to the demographic shift that is currently underway in the United States: 1) the Latino population continues to grow rapidly relative to other population groups, and 2) the White American population is aging and large numbers will soon be leaving the workforce and the economy as active participants. These two dimensions of the demographic shift already are impacting sectors of the economy, including agriculture. As in the general population, Latino farmers are increasing in numbers across the country. Read more from Latino Farmers on the Rise.
Click here to access a wealth of information from the Julian Samora Research Institute.

“The United States Census of Agriculture shows that Asian Americans made up less than 1 percent of the farming population in the United States in 2017. More than 95 percent of the full-time operators in the U.S. are white. These numbers stand in contrast to the 19th and early 20th century, when Asian American farmers were ubiquitous. The drastic demographic shift started with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, and later grew in 1913, when the California Alien Land Law prohibited Asian Americans from owning land. Between 1920 and 1930 alone, Japanese-owned farmland dropped by more than 40 percent. There's high segregation based on race and ethnicity in our rural spaces. While there are large populations of Asian American farmers, they're segregated in a way that they're not as visible as our white counterparts. This lack of visibility harms older Asian American farmers who are denied access to markets, land and resources as a result.” Read more from Young Asian Americans Turn to Farming as a Means of Cultural Reclamation

march 2021

Click here to access a 14 minute conversation between Dave Miller of Think Out Loud and Susan Morgan, CEO of the Oregon Food Bank. Her message: Oregonians are currently experiencing the highest rate of hunger in the past century, and food insecurity in Oregon has doubled since the start of COVID.