What Happened to All the Black Farmers? | NBC Left Field

being a black farmer has always been difficult and I always knew there was a problem but I really didn't get it until I was the one that they were doing it to it means so much because I remember my dad taking me riding in the truck you had tractors moving dirt was being thrown over it it was the best feeling you definitely want your kids to take over the farm for you to to keep that legacy going the number of black farmers in America has been steadily declining since the 1920s once accounting for 14% of all farmers today they make up less than 2% it got me wondering what's happening to all the black farmers we are fourth generation cane farmers that's all we did I mean from my grandfather to my great-grandfather I formed with my two brothers in my bed unlike some struggling crop growers and dairy farmers sugar cane farmers enjoy regulated prices which have made sugarcane a wolf crop June and Angie Provost's are sugar cane farmers in Louisiana and a line of black farmers before them probably five six I remember my dad just taking me ride in the field and looking at the tractors I would just try to do everything my dad did he would always put his arm out the window so I I did the same thing I was lucky enough to have a business where we can go in and enjoy doing what we love every day it was never a job I would get up for thirty five o'clock every morning and we all would go in the field you had tractors moving dirt was being thrown over it was just it was the best feeling there's a smell when the air moves get that breeze and you get that smell comes after you like it's it's undescribable I mean it's it's a beautiful thing it was my safe place it was where I felt most comfortable at no but I'm gonna look for a cause Bryson we were a community of African American farmers I mean you're talking about probably over 50 farmers farm families now you know in Louisiana there's 450,000 acres growing sugarcane is there are only four african-american families left there's a problem all the black homes were I mean pretty much family forms it wasn't just like one single it wasn't a single it was it was it was a fan it was that's how they were doing it because I still got my boy BJ right now it's yeah and I wanted to do that and how do you explain it this is a 1994 high-yield awards my dad I think was 50 plates in the top 20 in estate my oldest brother he was first place and I was non quota first place in the steam I had eight thousand five hundred eighty eight pounds of sugar on 21 acres and the state average was five thousand four hundred sixty pounds it's almost double with a state average I met June around February of 2008 he opened the door it was like that we were like really inseparable since the first moment that we met when I first met June I felt like all the hard work that he was doing that it wasn't paying off for him in some sort of wait something didn't feel right I would go with him periodically to the USDA office or to the bank or to them even the mill and I would hear him talk to these loan officers mill presidents and it was almost as if he were being disrespected in his face as if he didn't know what he was talking about that was something that occurred for years first guarantee big made me downsize in 2013 so I'm like why should I have to downsize I have bills out there for at least three four thousand acre form well you won't get alone I left some downside to 1200 acres in 2014 I didn't get my crop low until June 16th everybody King was there crops were finished they were green they were growing they're about to start planting Kane in a month month and a half Here I am just getting in the fields the lender first guaranteed did not respond to our request for comment in sugarcane you need your loan in February starting from like 2008 the crops alone starting March then again the end of March then it started in April and May I mean every year the cropper is longer and longer the leaves so if you a month or two behind that is crucial that that means your crop is gonna be behind for the rest until harvest season and it's a trickle-down effect so if your cane is behind your planning is gonna be behind so not only that you're gonna be suffering for that one year that cane there is gonna be your next property next three four years so it's a trickle-down effect it's not like one year you can regroup in and you're gonna be okay when you harvest the cane this right here you're actually gonna cut this top off sugar cane is a wealth problem for a thousand acre form your net profit is close to a hundred and fifty to two hundred thousand dollars in 2016 the average sugar cane farm in Louisiana was eight hundred and seventy acres June and his family once farmed up to five thousand acres the Provos believe large black farms drew negative attention from the overwhelmingly white farm community and agriculture institutions that's where I think that the threat came from with black farmers because you had so many farmers who were forming fifteen hundred acres and upwards all of the platforms that went out always what we heard well they're forming practices or they don't work hard enough or the only work three four days out of the week and that is the furthest from the truth but you don't realize if you're underfunded if you're getting your loans late that is a huge thing on a form especially with sugarcane you have a small window to get out in the field and work your crops we've had issues with lenders who've been discriminating against black farmers what Andy's describing was a subject of a massive class action suit brought by black farmers known as the pickford lawsuit farmers alleged that the United States Department of Agriculture was discriminating on the basis of race by limiting and delaying black farmers access to loans thousands of farmers joined the class action including Jun and his father and it resulted in the largest settlement in US government history and ultimately led to an admission of discriminatory practices within the USDA u.s. census data points the stark disparities between black and white farmers when it came to a federal loan called commodity Credit Corporation in 2007 black farmers received an average of twenty thousand four hundred and eight dollars while their white counterparts received triple that amount of the black farmers so in 2014 the problems and issues that we were going through this catapulted which is when they say I'm a pat to the sugar mill refused to honor a contract to harvest June's hundreds of acres of sugarcane the sugar mill did not respond to our request for comment either possibly leave my cane standing in the field or sign a new contract he could have charged up to ten dollars a ton of awards if your keen is nothing to feel I mean you won't have any money to get another crop load your form is done that was one of the hardest decisions of my life they left three quarters of my crop uncut June estimates that was a loss of at least half a million dollars Justin crops alone that finished putting me out completely [Music] protect us against all harm all anymore forgive us of our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against that forced to make an impossible decision June stopped farming this you know where you want to be looking at the game you're looking at the meal it is not like the number and I feel like I let my dad down by them taking away our our legacy we have attracted and some sugarcane that was that was a month it makes me angry when I look at June and I look at his father's grave site and I think of all the other young men and women who have passed away too early ages because of hard labor and I look at a sugar mill a sugar plantation built by slaves it makes me angry there are not many African American farmers left and the rate they're going right now there won't be any more in five to ten years so I'm gonna fight it until I can't fight anymore [Music] you can't see a growth in white sugarcane farmers while seeing a decline in black farmers and say that race has nothing to do with it now that we're in financial trouble first guarantee wants to foreclose on this home I mean the embarrassment the knowing that you won't be able to get a crop loan again knowing that your career is it's literally going I have nightmares I see psychologists I'm having the hardest time in possibly a month I can lose my house property is hard to deal with this I know a lot of formers are going through this routine Angie don't think their experience is unique they see institutional discrimination across much of the industry as a big reason for the decline of black farmers and I always knew there was a problem but I really didn't get it until I was the one that they were doing it to and it just opened my eyes up completely and it's like wow you know they did it to me they did it to my family members the whole community of black farmers they did it to the Provos have decided to file two lawsuits one against the sugar mill I'm a pattu and another against first guarantee Bank a family of sons and a father who maintains sugar cane operations for in this case at least three generations you don't go out of business because of bad farming practices there are some outside third-party influences that will cause the demise of an experienced sugarcane operation it's just shocking to see that these practices can in you in 2018 to have to leave your profession under a cloud of discriminatory practices is very disheartening it causes depression it causes a lot of hopelessness well neither the sugar mill nor the bank have responded to our request for comment and a previous statement to the Guardian first guarantee bank denied any discriminatory practices you are hereby notified that by virtue of writ of possession issued by the Honorable 16th Judicial District Court of Louisiana in and for Iberia Parish after 24 hours from date of this service I will place mortgage company first guarantee bank in full in complete possession of the property belonging to said educate of share cell being a following described property still shaken because this this is a loss that's just undescribable I mean to say you know come do this and then tomorrow they're gonna come in and change the locks that's that this is unreal this is unreal [Music] we are challenging your crooked mindset your backwards mindset your Jim Crow mindset well we'll pass it on to our kids we'll pass it on to our family members make sure that when we're gone that they will continue to push back despite the loss of their home and the ongoing lawsuits the provost's are determined to once again farm [Music]

Channel: NBC News

Views: 210,963

Keywords: NBC Left Field, Left Field, NBC News, NBC, MSNBC, TODAY Show, news, world news, politics, documentary, best documentary, journalism, video journalism, video journalist, video production, black farmers, african american, farming industry, sugar cane, louisiana, farming bill, USDA, farm crops, queen sugar, Ava DuVernay, what happened to black farmers, black land loss, black farmers in america

Id: q-VWIZIL4ag

Length: 14min 12sec (852 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 05 2019