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This story was originally published by Capital B Gary.

By Jenae Barnes
Capital B Gary
August 26, 2024

John Jamerson knows the value of farming land. He is one of the last remaining family members that lives on Lyles Station, the last Black farming settlement in Indiana.

As Black farm land — and landowners — evaporate nationwide, Jamerson said maintaining his family’s farm, Legacy Taste of the Garden, is their way of building and continuing a legacy that has spanned nearly five generations.

“I believe that agriculture is key,” Jamerson told Capital B Gary. “Everybody’s got to eat. So what’s a better place to start? Once you start owning land, you start being able to provide for yourself, create your own products … everything else you can build and grow.”

Despite Jamerson’s efforts to maintain his family’s legacy, Black farmers like him have faced decades of systemic discrimination, making it difficult to secure the resources needed to sustain their farms.

In response to these historical injustices, the United States Department of Agriculture recently announced the distribution of $2 billion in financial assistance to Black and brown farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who had previously experienced discrimination when applying for USDA farm loan programs.

A state-by-state breakdown, which does not account for racial background, shows that about 43,000 awards were approved in all 50 states, according to the USDA. In Indiana, 128 recipients received a total of $5,787,970.

Decades of discrimination by the USDA made it difficult for Black farmers to receive loans to buy and maintain their farming land. As a result, the number of Black farms in the U.S. have plummeted over the past few decades and tend to be smaller.

In 1920, Black-run farms were about 14% of all farms in the U.S., while today, Black farmers make up less than 2% of the country’s 3.4 million farmers.

A 2022 NPR analysis found that the USDA rejected more loans for Black farmers than for any other demographic group, approving loans for just 36% of Black applicants, compared to 72% of white applicants.

“The system that we have out there today is not … designed for the promotion of Black farmers and Black communities,” Jamerson said.

To address this, the USDA, in tandem with the Biden-Harris administration, provided financial assistance through the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program to make farming access more equitable.

“The completion of the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program is an important moment in USDA’s history, and in our journey to becoming a department that truly serves everyone who wants to participate in agriculture,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

“While this financial assistance is not compensation for anyone’s losses or pain endured, it is an acknowledgement.”

As many laud the program for its equitable intent, some farmers question its feasibility for those who really need it. Jamerson is one of them.

“$2 billion may sound like, you know, a nice, hefty number, but it’s nothing,” Jamerson said. “I mean, it’s a step in the right direction, but you know, it’s like saying, ‘Hey, somebody’s house is on fire,’ and you give them a water gun.”

Jamerson argues that with the USDA’s budget in the hundreds of billions, $2 billion is just a drop in the bucket. According to the 2024 USDA spending report, the agency has $466.75 billion in budgetary resources.

In Gary, local resident Maya Etienne called for increased resources and representation for Black farmers.

“Generally speaking, any money returned to Black and brown farmers, I think, is a great thing,” Etienne said. “But land is even better because a lot of our farmers lost land and don’t necessarily operate at the same capacity as their non-Black and brown farmers counterparts.”

Etienne is the assistant program director for the Northwest Local Food Purchasing Agreement, which contracts local farmers to help distribute fresh produce into communities like Gary that have food deserts. Like Jamerson, Etienne also questions other potential barriers to farmers’ access to funds.

“There’s an entire system that has been in place that has harmed black and brown farmers,” she said. “$2 billion sounds like a large number, but you know, how many farmers are there? Who is this going to impact, and what is the dollar amount at the end of the day going to be for each of these Black and brown farmers?”

According to the USDA, about 46% of applicants who were unable to establish farms due to the agency’s discriminatory actions received a total of $101 million. These individual awards ranged from $3,500 to $6,000.

Meanwhile, the remaining 54% of applicants, who did have farms and ranches, received a total of $1.9 billion from the USDA, with individual awards ranging from $10,000 to 500,000.

Porchea McGuire, a local Gary farmer and equity and engagement coordinator for the Northwest Indiana Food Council, said she has seen a lot of problems with gaining land access within the Black community. She emphasized the need for education to accompany the funding they received, so farmers can overcome the “learning curve” to spend the money wisely.

“I think there’s an extreme lack of financial literacy and financial education that needs to happen with Black farmers, specifically Black farmer cooperatives or business owners,” she said.

She added that without long-term solutions such as financial literacy, greater representation, and increased funding, farmers in Indiana and nationwide will continue to face an uphill battle for land.

“I do think it’s a good gesture,” she said. “I think it’s a start, but we have a lot of back work to do.”

Jenae Barnes is Capital B Gary’s health and environment reporter. You can reach Jenae at jenae.barnes@capitalbnews.org. More by Jenae Barnes