A camera is a powerful tool. As a farm in New York was illuminated on the screen, my mind was opened to a side of agriculture that needs to be talked about more. The film, Farming while Black, takes a close look into the stories and conditions of Black farmers in the U.S. By the end of the film, I was both inspired and enraged.
During a panel discussion following the film, one of the subjects from the documentary made the link between diversity in the ecosystem on private land and the people who work in agriculture. Indeed, according to the journal Nature, small farms are linked to higher biodiversity and more Black producers are linked to smaller farms than white producers. Smaller farms can be more beneficial for wildlife habitat for many reasons, such as using ecological management practices like limited insecticide use. Farmers in the film implement African agrarianism, which they describe as agricultural practices that can heal people and the planet. Thus, we can envision a future where more small farms, Black farmers and wildlife thrive on the land together.
The Uncomfortable Agricultural History
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has a documented history of racism against Black farmers. Over the last century, racism, discrimination and dispossession drove the percentage of American farmland owned by Black farmers down from 14% to below 2%. The Pigford lawsuit filed by Black farmers in 1997 brought to light inequities in access to USDA programs, loans and other assistance. The Pigford financial payouts, however, didn’t change USDA policy or end systemic racism.
A Chance for Equity
Congress is currently updating the Farm Bill, creating an opportunity to reverse some of those inequities. Reversing inequity also helps address the biodiversity crisis, on which Defenders of Wildlife is working. Helping Black farmers better access USDA programs helps expand the reach of wildlife conservation. We developed policy recommendations for the 2024 Farm Bill in partnership with agricultural lawyer, Jillian Hishaw, who helped us incorporate principles of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Justice into our recommendations. I am especially interested to see how the USDA implements their Equity Committee’s 2024 recommendations to address racial equity issues in its programs and services. I also hope to see strengthened accountability within the agency.
One of our recommendations is for Congress to increase the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and Conservation Stewardship Program funds set aside for beginning and socially disadvantaged producers from 5% to 10%. Providing more financial and technical assistance for these producers would help enhance the climate resilience of their land by helping them to recover from drought, flood and higher temperature-caused damages.
Congress created the Heirs’ Property Relending Program to provide funds to producers through loans from intermediary lenders to resolve ownership and succession issues in order to produce a clear title to the land. Having a clear title is necessary to participate in Farm Bill programs, including programs supporting wildlife conservation. We recommend adding a grant program fashioned after this relending program to provide even more access to the socially disadvantaged producers needing this assistance.
We also support expanding eligibility for the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP) to tribal entities, such as livestock associations, by exempting them from LIP’s adjusted gross income (AGI) limit on eligibility. Individual tribal ranchers frequently operate as part of a tribal livestock association under their tribe’s tax identification number. In most cases, a tribe’s AGI is significantly greater than the limit allowed under the Farm Bill. Therefore, even though a tribal rancher and livestock association’s income would fall well below the cutoff, they are ineligible for compensation. This situation is inequitable for producers and can significantly impact wildlife because habitat for some threatened and endangered species includes millions of acres of tribal land.
In addition to those policy recommendations, Defenders supports two pieces of legislation that would help support the diverse wildlife and people stewarding our nation’s private land:
- The Small Farms Conservation Act would make EQIP more accessible to small farmers.
- The Increasing Land Access, Security and Opportunities Act would establish a program within the USDA Farm Services Agency to strengthen land, capital and market access to historically underserved farmers, ranchers, and forest owners.
The biodiversity and equity crises must be addressed as one interconnected crisis. The next Farm Bill must work for wildlife and all producers. We all can work to make policy changes by reaching out to our members of Congress and asking them to support these pieces of legislation and include strong equity provisions in the next Farm Bill.
Author
Mary Pfaffko
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Wildlife & Wild Places
