National Black Farmers Association

Last updated

National Black Farmers Association
Founder John Boyd Jr.
Type 501(c)(3), Nonprofit
47-2081033
Website nationalblackfarmersassociation.org

The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) is a non-profit organization representing African American farmers and their families in the United States. As an association, it serves tens of thousands of members nationwide. NBFA's education and advocacy efforts have been focused on civil rights, land retention, access to public and private loans, education and agricultural training, and rural economic development for black and other small farmers.

Contents

Founding

The organization was founded in 1995 by John W. Boyd, Jr. a fourth-generation black farmer from Baskerville, Virginia, near the town of South Hill, Virginia. [1] Boyd continues to serve as the group's president. Boyd's work for the NBFA has been chronicled by national media organizations including a Person of the Week profile on ABC World News Tonight, [2] The Washington Post, [3] and Roll Call newspaper which is influential on Capitol Hill. [4]

Since its inception, NBFA has been a national voice on the issue of farm subsidies, arguing that black farmers are left out of the massive system of subsidies provided by the government. [5]

History

Many black farmers across the nation experienced discrimination in their dealings with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) agencies in their states. Across the nation, black farmers alleged, and the USDA later agreed, they were denied access to loans and subsidies provided by the government. [6] On a national level, farm subsidies that were afforded to white farmers were not afforded to black farmers. [7] Since they were denied government loans, emergency or disaster assistance, and other aid, many black farmers lost their farms and their homes. [8]

Black farmers nationwide joined in a class action discrimination suit against the USDA. The first prominent cases were filed in federal court in 1997. [9] An attorney called it "the most organized, largest civil rights case in the history of the country." [10]

That year, black farmers from at least five states held protests in front of the USDA headquarters in Washington, DC. [11] Protests in front of the USDA were a strategy employed in later years as the black farmers sought to keep national attention focused on the plight of the black farmers.

That year, representatives of the National Black Farmers Association met with President Bill Clinton and other administration officials at the White House. And NBFA's president testified before the United States House Committee on Agriculture. [12]

In Pigford v. Glickman U.S. Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman approved the settlement agreement and consent decree in the case on April 14, 1999. [9] The settlement recognized discrimination against 22,363 black farmers but the NBFA would later call the agreement incomplete because more than 70,000 were excluded. [13] Nevertheless, the settlement was deemed to be the largest-ever civil rights class action settlement in American history. Lawyers estimated the value of the settlement to be more than $2 billion. [6] Some farmers would have their debts forgiven. [14] Judge Friedman appointed a monitor to oversee the settlement. [15]

Farmers in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia were among those affected by the settlement. [16]

The NBFA's president was invited to testify before congress on this matter numerous times following the settlement including before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture on September 12, 2000 when he testified that many farmers had not yet received payments and others were left out of the settlement. NBFA asked Congress to pass legislation that would ensure a full resolution of the discrimination cases.

It was later found that one DoJ staff "general attorney" was unlicensed while she was handling black farmers' cases. [17] NBFA called for all those cases to be reheard.

In 2006 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report highly critical of the USDA in its handling of the black farmers cases. [18]

NBFA continued to lobby Congress to provide relief. NBFA's Boyd secured congressional support for legislation that would provide $100 million in funds to settle late-filer cases. In 2006 a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives and later the Senate by Senator George Felix Allen. [19]

In 2007 Boyd testified before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary about this legislation.

As the organization was making headway by gathering Congressional supporters in 2007 it was revealed that some USDA Farm Services Agency employees were engaged in activities aimed at blocking Congressional legislation that would aid the black farmers. [20]

President Barack Obama, then a U.S. Senator, lent his support to the black farmers' issues in 2007. [21] A bill cosponsored by Obama passed the Senate in 2007. [22]

The Senate and House versions of the black farmers bill, reopening black farmers discrimination cases, became law in 2008. [8] The new law could affect up to 74,000 black farmers according to some news reports. [23]

In 2008 hundreds of black farmers, denied a chance to have their cases heard in the Pigford settlement, filed a new lawsuit against USDA. [24]

Later in 2008, the GAO issued a new report sharply critical of the USDA's handling of discrimination complaints. [25] The GAO recommended an oversight review board to examine civil rights complaints. [26]

After numerous public rallies and an intensive NBFA member lobbying effort, Congress approved and President Barack Obama signed into law in December 2010 legislation that set aside $1.15 billion to resolve the outstanding Black farmers cases. [27] NBFA's John W. Boyd, Jr. attended the bill signing ceremony at the White House.

As of 2013, 90,000 African-American, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers had filed claims, some fraudulent, or even transparently bogus. [28]

On August 26, 2020, the National Black Farmers Association filed a lawsuit in a St. Louis court seeking to force Monsanto and its parent company Bayer to end the sale of Roundup. [29] The lawsuit alleges that black farmers across the United States have been forced to use Roundup-resistant seeds and Roundup in increasingly heavier applications, and that Monsanto failed to inform the farmers of the weedkiller's risks. [29]

Awards

Over the years, the NBFA has given its advocate of the year award to Senator Charles Grassley as well as Congressmen John Conyers, Robert C. Scott, Earl F. Hilliard, Eva M. Clayton.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Department of Agriculture</span> Department of the US government

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally. It is headed by the secretary of agriculture, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's Cabinet. The current secretary is Tom Vilsack, who has served since February 24, 2021.

The Monsanto Company was an American agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation founded in 1901 and headquartered in Creve Coeur, Missouri. Monsanto's best-known product is Roundup, a glyphosate-based herbicide, developed in the 1970s. Later, the company became a major producer of genetically engineered crops. In 2018, the company ranked 199th on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farm Service Agency</span> Agency of the US Dept of Agriculture

The Farm Service Agency (FSA) is the United States Department of Agriculture agency that was formed by merging the farm loan portfolio and staff of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) and the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service (ASCS). The Farm Service Agency implements agricultural policy, administers credit and loan programs, and manages conservation, commodity, disaster, and farm marketing programs through a national network of offices. The Administrator of FSA reports to the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Farm Production and Conservation. The current administrator is Zach Ducheneaux. The FSA of each state is led by a politically appointed State Executive Director (SED).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Percy Schmeiser</span> Canadian farmer, businessman, and politician (1931–2020)

Percy Schmeiser was a Canadian businessman, farmer, and politician. In 1954, he took over the operations of the family owned farm, gas station, and farm equipment dealership. He renamed the farm equipment dealership Schmeiser's Garage and added a second farm equipment dealership in Humboldt, Saskatchewan in 1986 and oversaw their operations until their sale in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008</span> United States federal law

The Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 was a $288 billion, five-year agricultural policy bill that was passed into law by the United States Congress on June 18, 2008. The bill was a continuation of the 2002 Farm Bill. It continues the United States' long history of agricultural subsidies as well as pursuing areas such as energy, conservation, nutrition, and rural development. Some specific initiatives in the bill include increases in Food Stamp benefits, increased support for the production of cellulosic ethanol, and money for the research of pests, diseases and other agricultural problems.

The agricultural policy of the United States is composed primarily of the periodically renewed federal U.S. farm bills. The Farm Bills have a rich history which initially sought to provide income and price support to US farmers and prevent them from adverse global as well as local supply and demand shocks. This implied an elaborate subsidy program which supports domestic production by either direct payments or through price support measures. The former incentivizes farmers to grow certain crops which are eligible for such payments through environmentally conscientious practices of farming. The latter protects farmers from vagaries of price fluctuations by ensuring a minimum price and fulfilling their shortfalls in revenue upon a fall in price. Lately, there are other measures through which the government encourages crop insurance and pays part of the premium for such insurance against various unanticipated outcomes in agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009</span> Federal statute in the United States

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 is a landmark federal statute in the United States that was the first bill signed into law by U.S. President Barack Obama on January 29, 2009. The act amends Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and states that the 180-day statute of limitations for filing an equal-pay lawsuit regarding pay discrimination resets with each new paycheck affected by that discriminatory action. The law directly addressed Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (2007), a U.S. Supreme Court decision that the statute of limitations for presenting an equal-pay lawsuit begins on the date that the employer makes the initial discriminatory wage decision, not at the date of the most recent paycheck.

John Wesley Boyd Jr. is an African-American farmer, civil rights activist and the founder of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA).

Pigford v. Glickman (1999) was a class action lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), alleging that it had racially discriminated against African-American farmers in its allocation of farm loans and assistance from 1981 to 1996. The lawsuit was settled on April 14, 1999, by Judge Paul L. Friedman of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. To date, almost $1 billion US dollars have been paid or credited to fewer than 20,000 farmers under the settlement's consent decree, under what is reportedly the largest civil rights settlement until that point. Due to delaying tactics by U.S. government officials, more than 70,000 farmers were treated as filing late and thus did not have their claims heard. The 2008 Farm Bill provided for additional claims to be heard. In December 2010, Congress appropriated $1.2 billion for what is called "Pigford II," settlement for the second part of the case.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shirley Sherrod</span> American civil rights activist

Shirley Sherrod is a former Georgia State Director of Rural Development for the United States Department of Agriculture. On July 19, 2010, she became a subject of controversy when parts of a speech she gave were publicized by Breitbart News, and she was forced to resign. However, upon review of the complete unedited video in context, the NAACP, White House officials, and Tom Vilsack, the United States secretary of agriculture, apologized for the firing and Sherrod was offered a new position.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Claims Resolution Act of 2010</span> United States Law

The Claims Resolution Act of 2010 is a federal law enacted by the 111th Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama on December 8, 2010. The act is a response to the Pigford v. Glickman case, where black farmers were found to have been discriminated against from 1983 to 1997 by the United States Department of Agriculture when applying for loans and assistance to start and to maintain farms. The case required a $50,000 dollar settlement to every discriminated farmer. However, many potential victims missed the application deadline for a settlement. The bill sets aside $1.5 billion for the estimated 75,000 farmers who are eligible for a settlement.

Monsanto Co. v. Geertson Seed Farms, 561 U.S. 139 (2010), is a United States Supreme Court case decided 7-1 in favor of Monsanto. The decision allowed Monsanto to sell genetically modified alfalfa seeds to farmers, and allowed farmers to plant them, grow crops, harvest them, and sell the crop into the food supply. The case came about because the use of the seeds was approved by regulatory authorities; the approval was challenged in district court by Geertson Seed Farms and other groups who were concerned that the genetically modified alfalfa would spread too easily, and the challengers won. Monsanto appealed the district court decision and lost, and appealed again to the Supreme Court, where Monsanto won, thus upholding the original approval and allowing the seeds to be sold.

The Farmer Assurance Provision refers to Section 735 of US H.R. 933, a bill that was passed by the Senate on March 20, 2013, and then signed into law as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 by President Barack Obama on March 26, 2013. The provisions of this law remained in effect for six months, until the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2013. The Farmer Assurance Provision was discontinued in Sec. 101 of the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014. The bill is commonly referred to as the "Monsanto Protection Act" by its critics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of African-American agriculture</span>

The role of African Americans in the agricultural history of the United States includes roles as the main work force when they were enslaved on cotton and tobacco plantations in the Antebellum South. After the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863-1865 most stayed in farming as very poor sharecroppers, who rarely owned land. They began the Great Migration to cities in the mid-20th century. About 40,000 are farmers today.

Monsanto was involved in several high-profile lawsuits, as both plaintiff and defendant. It had been defendant in a number of lawsuits over health and environmental issues related to its products. Monsanto also made frequent use of the courts to defend its patents, particularly in the area of agricultural biotechnology. Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018, and the company has since been involved in litigation related to ex-Monsanto products such as glyphosate, PCBs and dicamba. In 2020 it paid over $10 billion to settle lawsuits involving the glyphosate based herbicide Roundup.

A genetically modified sugar beet is a sugar beet that has been genetically engineered by the direct modification of its genome using biotechnology. Commercialized GM sugar beets make use of a glyphosate-resistance modification developed by Monsanto and KWS Saat. These glyphosate-resistant beets, also called 'Roundup Ready' sugar beets, were developed by 2000, but not commercialized until 2007. For international trade, sugar beets have a Maximum Residue Limit of glyphosate of 15 mg/Kg at harvest. As of 2016, GMO sugar beets are grown in the United States and Canada. In the United States, they play an important role in domestic sugar production. Studies have concluded the sugar from glyphosate-resistant sugar beets is molecularly identical to and so has the same nutritional value as sugar from conventional (non-GMO) sugar beets.

The USDA Coalition of Minority Employees is a civil rights organization formed by employees of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in 1994 specifically focused on ending discrimination within the Department and more generally on eradicating racism in agriculture in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janie Simms Hipp</span> American lawyer

Janie Simms Hipp is an agriculture and food lawyer, policy expert, and the founder of the Indigenous Food and Agriculture Initiative at the University of Arkansas, founder of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Office of Tribal Relations in the Office of the Secretary, founding Executive Director of the Native American Agriculture Fund,. Hipp's work focuses on the intersection of Indian law and agriculture and food law. She is currently the CEO/President of Native Agriculture Financial Services since August 2023.

Love v. Vilsack refers to the 2001 lawsuit filed by a group of women farmers against the USDA. The lawsuit alleged that the USDA discriminated against female farmers through the agricultural loan process, and specifically named the Farm Service Agency (FSA). This lawsuit is often discussed in conjunction with Garcia v. Vilsack because of its similar timeline and like the Garcia v. Vilsack, the claims process for female farmers was voluntary, which meant that female farmers had to file claims individually.

Garcia v. Vilsack refers to a 2000 lawsuit brought by a hundred Hispanic farmers against the USDA, with the farmers claiming the organization had discriminated against Latino/Hispanic farmers. This lawsuit was filed at the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

References

  1. ↑ "Answers - The Most Trusted Place for Answering Life's Questions". Answers.com.
  2. ↑ ABC News. "Person of the Week: John Boyd". ABC News.
  3. ↑ "A Quest to Be Heard". The Washington Post .
  4. ↑ ""Sowing Seeds of Victory; John Boyd Jr. Gets Farm Bill Appropriation", Roll Call (2008)".
  5. ↑ Becker, Elizabeth (11 July 2002). "Caucus Seeks More Aid for Black Farmers". The New York Times.
  6. 1 2 "Judge Approves Settlement for Black Farmers". The New York Times. 15 April 1999.
  7. ↑ ABC News. "Person of the Week: John Boyd". ABC News.
  8. 1 2 "Reopening black farmers' suits could cost billions - USATODAY.com". USA Today .
  9. 1 2 "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 May 2006. Retrieved 10 November 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. ↑ "PBS The News Hour (1999)". PBS .
  11. ↑ Gilbert, Charlene; Eli, Quinn (2002). Homecoming. Beacon Press. ISBN   9780807009635.
  12. ↑ Treatment of minority and limited resource producers by the U.S. Department ... - United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture - Google Books. U.S. Government Printing Office. January 1997. ISBN   9780160554100.
  13. ↑ Susan Orr Klopfer, M.; Klopfer, Susan; Klopfer, Fred; Klopfer, Barry (2 August 2005). Where Rebels Roost... Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited. M.S. Orr Klopfer. ISBN   9781411641020.
  14. ↑ "Black Farmers Lawsuit". NPR.org. 2 March 1999.
  15. ↑ "Judge Approves Settlement for Black Farmers". The New York Times. 15 April 1999.
  16. ↑ "Black Farmers Receive Settlement Checks In Class-Action Lawsuit". Archived from the original on 28 February 2006. Retrieved 18 September 2023.
  17. ↑ "Unlicensed hire", Government Executive (2005) Archived 2005-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ↑ "Black Farmers Follow Up on USDA Grievances". NPR.org. 25 April 2006.
  19. ↑ "Allen Unveils Bill to Help Black Farmers". The Washington Post .
  20. ↑ Office of Senator Obama Archived 2008-11-11 at the Wayback Machine
  21. ↑ "Campaign". TheHill.
  22. ↑ "Senate Votes to Reopen Black Farmers' Lawsuits | U.S. Senator Barack Obama". Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  23. ↑ "Help Ahead for Black Farmers". NPR.org. 31 December 2007.
  24. ↑ "Black farmers file new suit against USDA". Fox News.
  25. ↑ Lauren Etter (23 October 2008). "USDA Faulted Over Minority Farmers". WSJ.
  26. ↑ "USDA Action On Bias Complaints Is Criticized". The Washington Post .
  27. ↑ "Obama signs measure funding black farmers settlement", CNN.com (2010) Archived 2012-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
  28. ↑ Sharon LaFraniere (25 April 2013). "Federal Spigot Flows as Farmers Claim Discrimination". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 April 2013. ...claimants were not required to present documentary evidence that they had been unfairly treated or had even tried to farm.
  29. 1 2 "Black farmers file suit against Monsanto seeking to block sale of Roundup". St. Louis Today. 26 August 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.