‘Aid is not trickling down because it hasn’t been a priority’: John W. Boyd Jr. on government aid for the agriculture industry

John W. Boyd Jr, the Founder and President of National Black Farmers Association, joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers and Sibile Marcellus to discuss the state of black-owned farms and famers in the U.S., the subsidy gaps between black and white farmers, and how to address discrimination in agriculture.

Video transcript

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KRISTIN MYERS: Welcome back to A Time for Change. Today, we're talking about farming in America. Let's turn now to focus in on Black farmers. Over the last century, the number of Black-owned farms has dropped from nearly 1 million to fewer than 40,000. Now in terms of acres, Black farmers have lost a staggering 90% of their land.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: But there's some relief coming from President Biden's stimulus package, specifically $5 billion earmarked for socially disadvantaged farmers, including Black farmers. Now our first guest is a fourth generation farmer, who has spent his life fighting for Black farmers. In 2010, he actually rode a tractor named Justice from Virginia to the US Capitol to pressure the government to provide funds to Black farmers after decades of discrimination. John Boyd, Jr. is the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association. John, have the $5 billion earmarked for socially disadvantaged farmers actually reached Black farmers? Has it hit their bank accounts?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: It has not. And that's something that I've been reaching out to President Biden to discuss. I feel like it's a little slow, the process. And after spending decades to get the measure passed in Congress and the COVID relief package that just passed, we really need to get expedited payments and get the debt relief out to Black farmers and Native American farmers and Hispanic farmers, who have been waiting, you know, for justice for a very, very long time.

And what I'm hearing from the department is that they want to listen and learn and all of these things. But you had decades to listen and learn. And now the bill is passed. The moneys are in place. And they need to get them out to the farmers as swiftly as possible. And what I'm also hearing is that they plan to use the local county offices, the same persons that discriminated against Black and other minority farmers, to disperse the debt relief. So that's a little concerning for us right now. And that's why I'm requesting to meet with President Biden to ask him to look at this matter and urge Secretary Vilsack to move swiftly to get the debt relief out to the waiting farmers.

KRISTIN MYERS: So John, you've mentioned the discrimination that has really existed against Black, Brown, and minority farmers, not just recently, but for, frankly, decades and decades. How far do you think this money, this $5 billion that has been earmarked for disadvantaged farmers, how much will that do to really reduce or narrow some of those gaps that exist between farmers like yourself and your white counterparts that have received the bulk of money over the last several years?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: Yes, so I think it's a huge step in the right direction. And it shows the commitment of President Biden and the Biden administration. But on the other hand, just from the Trump administration alone, $29 billion went out to primarily white large scale farmers in this country. 0.5% went to Black farmers. So, virtually nothing. So when you hear from a lot of [INAUDIBLE] white farmers who say that Blacks and other farmers shouldn't receive this relief, but they don't have a problem when they've been getting all of the money all of the time. So the measure is a huge step in the right direction.

And I'm currently working on the [INAUDIBLE] Bill, the Justice for Black Farmers Act, that will return some of the land that you discussed to new and beginning farmers and Black farmers in this country. So this was a first step in the right direction. And there's much more work to be done here in this country.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: Former President Trump painted China as the villain taking advantage of American farmers. Is China the problem, or is it the government aid not trickling down to minority-owned farms?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: That's exactly right, the second part of that answer. The aid is not trickling down to small scale farmers, Black farmers, Hispanic farmers, Native American farmers. And it's because it hasn't been a priority with [INAUDIBLE], especially the Trump administration, when I met with former Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, who pretty much said he didn't see a need to work with Black farmers. And basically, Mr. Boyd, your farmers should get bigger or get out of farming. That was the message from the former Agriculture Secretary, who held the highest office in this country for farmers, and it's disturbing.

So we have to redevelop from this trend that's really put us out of business. The discrimination at United States Department of Agriculture is the stem of land loss for Black farmers in this country, where many people knew, [INAUDIBLE] Lindsey Graham and all these people knew that discrimination existed in farm lending, farm ownership, and the US farm subsidy program, and they did nothing to help me fix it.

KRISTIN MYERS: So, John, I hear what you're saying, you know, specifically, how the discrimination existed, from taking away, dispossessing lands that were owned by Black farmers and their families, not giving out money, loans, grants from the government. So paint, then, a picture. We had some of those stats right at the top, correct, you know, about how much land has been lost. But if you could paint a picture right now of what the average Black farmer looks like, how they are doing economically, financially, what would the paint-- what would the picture be? What would you paint?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: It would be a very struggling picture. The average size of a Black-owned farm is 50 acres. And we are very minimum as far as yearly income. And it's because we've been shut out of these programs for so very, very long. So when the top 10% in the US farm subsidy program receives $1 million per farmer from the US government in help and aid, and Black farmers receive, on average, a couple of thousand bucks a year, we just can't compete. And they have to figure out a way to bring some transparency there, so they can help level the playing field so small scale farmers can start to get a larger portion of that money.

And that's what I would like to speak to the president about. We have to fix this. And we have to solve it right now. And I think we have the right team there with the Agricultural Secretary. We have the House Chairman Scott. For the first time in history, an African-American man heading up the Ag Committee. We have two Black senators, Cory Booker and Senator Warnock on the Senate Ag Committee. So I think this is the right time to address discrimination at the United States Department of Agriculture and level the playing field so that Black farmers can start participating in America's agriculture fabric in this country.

SIBILE MARCELLUS: John, you mentioned that you want to meet with President Biden face-to-face. You want to have that conversation. And who knows? Maybe he's watching this live. And maybe he will grant you that meeting. But you've been fighting for Black workers for decades, I mean, to the point of actually-- like, we showed that video of you riding the tractor all the way to the Capitol. What do you feel like you've accomplished personally at this point?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: I think if you had asked me, would I met with presidents, many presidents I've met with since President Jimmy Carter to Barack Obama and even Ronald Reagan, I would've told you none of those things would have transpired or happened to the great grandson of a slave in this country. So I've came a long way. This country's came a long way. But we have such a long, long way to go. So I haven't had the time to actually reflect on my life body of work of fighting on behalf of Black farmers and Native American farmers and Hispanic farmers. And yes, we fought for women farmers, too.

So we've had a long uphill battle. And I've been pushing this wheelbarrow up the hill. And I want to get to the top so I can take a easier ride down the other side of the mountain. But we need the help of this president. And we've had some issues with Secretary Vilsack, and I hope that he would change and point agriculture in the right direction and make sure that large scale farmers don't reap all the benefits. And Blacks and other small scale farmers have to be a part of this administration. And that's what I want to talk to this president about soon.

KRISTIN MYERS: Sadly, John, we only have about a minute left with you here. I know that you're saying that there's still a long way to go, even though these steps for redress has been made. So beyond the stimulus, beyond the $5 billion, what is the best way to address the decades-long discrimination that has existed in agriculture? Is there perhaps needed farming reparations, for example, to address that gap? What's needed next?

JOHN W. BOYD, JR.: Yes, John Deere. John Deere. Make sure that you guys take a look at John Deere and how they're treating Black farmers. They haven't serviced our equipment. So there's large scale corporate America that has to be held accountable. Monsanto, ADM, even PepsiCo, all of these companies that haven't issued contracts, but they could, with Black farmers because we're not big enough. We have to fix that picture in this country with small scale farmers can be a part of corporate America and to receive the justice and fairness and equality.

And I believe if you treat every person with dignity and respect, how much further we can get in this country? So we have to be a part of Americans' agriculture and as far as a corporate American. And I'm asking people who are looking at this, stop buying John Deere's tractors, implements, and lawnmowers until they come to the table and meet with the National Black Farmers Association and to tell us how they're going to service our Black farmers. Just because we're not large scale farmers, we deserve service just like everybody else.

KRISTIN MYERS: All right, a pretty strong call there to essentially boycott John Deere, obviously following in the footsteps of what we've been seeing going on in Georgia lately there with some of their voting legislation. John Boyd, founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, thanks so much for joining us today.