Abstract

Although there are more opportunities and re­vamped avenues for socially disadvantaged farmers to participate in federal agricultural program since Pigford v. Glickman, the first Black farmer class action lawsuit against USDA and subsequent billion dollar settlement, there is not a lot of scholarly research on Black farmers’ perspectives and experiences in accessing and using these programs today. Using data from nine focus groups in Mississippi with 89 Black farmers, we find that Black farmers and ranchers identify several barriers to program participation, namely communication about programs and problems with the application and approval process, including a lack of standardization and transparency. Inter­woven throughout the discussions of barriers were conversations about racial and gender discrimina­tion, with producers soundly in agreement that the former persists, and the latter is an issue. This research informs our understandings of Black farmers’ experiences of how racial hierarchies and networks continue to shape their ability to access and participate in federal farm programs; policy recommendations are provided.

Highlights

  • IntroductionWhile general impediments stemming from structural racism are often referred to abstractly in research, little contemporary scholarship empirically addresses the specific barriers after the creation of the Office of Civil Rights at USDA in 2002 and amid USDA’s ongoing efforts to improve outreach efforts to Black farmers during the last decade after the advent of funding for the Office of Advocacy and Outreach in the 2008 farm bill

  • Census of Agriculture data show that agricultural production remains an industry populated and dominated by White men (U.S Department of Agriculture [USDA], 2014a)

  • While general impediments stemming from structural racism are often referred to abstractly in research, little contemporary scholarship empirically addresses the specific barriers after the creation of the Office of Civil Rights at USDA in 2002 and amid USDA’s ongoing efforts to improve outreach efforts to Black farmers during the last decade after the advent of funding for the Office of Advocacy and Outreach in the 2008 farm bill

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Summary

Introduction

While general impediments stemming from structural racism are often referred to abstractly in research, little contemporary scholarship empirically addresses the specific barriers after the creation of the Office of Civil Rights at USDA in 2002 and amid USDA’s ongoing efforts to improve outreach efforts to Black farmers during the last decade after the advent of funding for the Office of Advocacy and Outreach in the 2008 farm bill. The USDA’s original conservation programs focused on soil erosion and water quality and quantity issues, whereas the current farm bill includes conservation provisions for air quality, wetlands restoration and protection, energy efficiency, wildlife habitat, and sustainable agriculture (Stubbs, 2016, 2017). The Farm Service Agency (FSA), a subagency of USDA, oversees the Conservation Reserve Program, a different subagency, the NRCS, administers the vast majority of USDA’s conservation programs

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