Structural racism underlies the history of agriculture and food systems in the United States, and its effects are still felt today. From the taking of land from Indigenous people to create farms and the enslavement of Indigenous and African peoples to work those farms, to the theft (legal or not) of land from people of color during Reconstruction, to the systemic denial of government loans, BIPOC farmers have been subject to discriminatory laws, policies, and violence that stripped them of land-based wealth.

These historical actions are reflected today in who owns farms. Today in the U.S. 98% of farmland is owned by white people, who receive the vast majority of agriculture-related financial assistance, and 95% of farmers are white. And while the most recent (2018) Farm Bill includes a handful of programs for “socially disadvantaged” farmers (defined as those who belong to a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic discrimination), the assistance is limited and has not perceptibly moved farm policy toward greater equity.

This history reverberates on the consumption side, too. There is a divide in access to healthy, fresh food between the average white community and the average community of color, with Black and Latinx households facing the highest per capita food insecurity in the country. Lack of access to healthy foods is a contributor to high rates of diet-related diseases found in some BIPOC populations. And as we learned during our Childhood Nutrition theme, children who are food insecure do not start on a level playing field with their peers: they face a range of health and developmental obstacles from the start, which in older children can manifest in lower academic achievement, missed school days, and attention and behavioral issues.

It’s long past time to right these wrongs. In this pillar we will explore two arenas where that work is underway: Land Access, and Access to Healthy Foods.

The National Young Farmers Coalition reports that “Regardless of geography, or whether or not they grew up on a farm, finding secure access to high quality land is the greatest barrier faced by farmers and aspiring farmers, and the number one reason farmers are leaving agriculture.” The problem is particularly acute for BIPOC would-be farmers, who experience barriers to land access as they intersect with discrimination and with the impacts of strucutral racism—for example, the inherited wealth gap between white and BIPOC individuals.

Source: Environmental Working Group

In the U.S.,the trend towards farm consolidation—along with policies, subsidies, market shifts and economic pressures that favor large landowners and enterprises—are leading to the disappearance of small- and mid-sized, diversified farms. Today, 41% of farmland is operated by just over 7% of the country’s farms. To add further urgency: Roughly 41% of U.S. farmland is owned by people at least 65 years old, meaning that ~370 million acres of farmland may be transitioned over the next 10 years.

“Large crop farms are getting larger, small crop farms are getting smaller, and midsize crop farms are disappearing.”

LOSING GROUND 

Land ownership has a powerful effect on farm viability. It enables farmers to leverage their land to make capital improvements, can be used as collateral for further purchases, or subdivided for profit. Even long-term leases provide some of the security needed to pursue longer-term investments in, for example, soil health or irrigation —an important consideration given that 40% of U.S. farmland is leased. And the impact of land security on farmers’ mental health can not be overstated.

In short: there’s a lot at stake. Expanding access to land will enable more farmers to make a living off the land: BIPOC farmers, other historically marginalized people including women and immigrants, and young farmers of all backgrounds. It is key to keeping agricultural land in production and to deploying more regenerative methods. It will fuel food justice for communities of color and low-income Americans, and food sovereignty for Tribal nations and Indigenous communities.

Founder and land steward Pandora Thomas introduces students to EarthSEED Farm, Sonoma County's first Black-owned farm, operated and rooted in AfroIndigenous permaculture principles.

Philanthropy can support efforts that facilitate affordable and secure land tenure, and eliminate inequalities in land ownership and access. Key levers and opportunities include:

Mission-driven CDFIs like California FarmLink, and other organizations that help new and underserved farmers purchase and retain ownership of farmland, or secure long-term leases that allow businesses to expand securely while providing pathways to ownership.

Land trusts that protect farmland from development by buying from farmers looking to retire, especially those that set the land aside for farmers of color and/or for regenerative producers to purchase at subsidized rates.

Advocacy to change federal agricultural and tax policy to level the playing field for socially disadvantaged and small farmers. At the state and local levels, opportunities include securing long-term access to land for urban farming and policies that enable cooperative forms of land ownership.

Business advising and technical support for farm viability, and to establish cooperative and alternative models of land ownership and stewardship.

Legal support for land recovery and tenure by tribal people. 

This pillar will also be uplifted by the work we described in our Local Food Systems section. By building local and regional food systems instructure, we help provide markets for diverse farmers and support farm viability. 

For far too many people, and especially for those living in low-income communities, communities of color, and farmworker communities, healthy food is physically or financially out of reach—even in the Bay Area, and even in California’s most productive agricultural regions.

The landscape of work being done to make healthy food more accessible is vast, and the full universe of healthy food access and food security is beyond the scope of this theme. Instead we will focus on BIPOC-led initiatives that increase access to affordable, healthy, culturally appropriate food for communities of color, and support them to reclaim and reimagine their own foodways. Intimately linked to our Local Food Systems focus area, these can include:

• BIPOC-owned farms that train residents to grow the food that feeds their communities
• Connecting food insecure communities with fresh food, locally grown by BIPOC farmers
• Coalition-building, participatory processes, and power-shifting that center BIPOC producers, workers, and communities.

“The Bay Area still hasn’t ‘solved’ the issue of paying local farmers and food workers a living wage while also ensuring access to local, nutritious, and culturally relevant food at an affordable price for low-income residents.”

PEOPLE'S FOOD & FARM PROJECT, SF BAY AREA FOOD SYsTEMS DIAGNOSIS

Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders and the People’s Food & Farm Project, among many others, advanced our thinking around land and healthy food access.

RESOURCES

1. Presser, Lizzie. “Their Family Bought Land One Generation After Slavery. The Reels Brothers Spent Eight Years in Jail for Refusing to Leave It.” ProPublica. 15 July 2019.
2. National Young Farmers Coalition. Land Policy: Towards a More Equitable Farming Future. 2020.
3. USDA Economic Research Service. “Socially Disadvantaged, Beginning, Limited Resource, and Female Farmers and Ranchers.”
4. USDA Economic Research Service. “Food Security in the U.S.: Key Statistics & Graphics.” 2020.
5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. “Food Insecurity.”
6. Food Research and Action Center. SNAP and Public Health: The Role of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Improving the Health and Well‐Being of Americans. 2013.
7. Weller, Christian E. and Lily Roberts. “Eliminating the Black-White Wealth Gap Is a Generational Challenge.” Center for American Progress. 19 March 2021.
8. Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders. 2022 Focus Area: Land Access.
9. Haight, David. “Supporting a Brighter Future for Agriculture in America.” American Farmland Trust. 19 July 2021.
10. USDA Economic Research Service. “Farmland Ownership and Tenure.” Updated 16 May 2022.
11. Annie E. Casey Foundation. “Food Deserts in the United States.” 13 February 2021.
12. Sierra, Stephanie and Lindsey Feingold. “'Food deserts': Nearly 900 neighborhoods across Bay Area have limited access to food.” ABC7 News, 20 November 2021.