Farming While Black: Resilience in the Face of Adversity

Please do.

And yes, this is very exciting.

So for our listeners who may not be familiar with the issue, I'm just so interested.

Like, now is such an interesting time to be talking about farming.

Okay? The amount of food on recall right now, it'll make you scared to open your refrigerator.

Okay? So now is such an interesting time to be talking about farming.

But for those, you know, who maybe live under a rock, you know, or maybe... just have not yet drawn the line, the direct line that exists between some of the things that are happening throughout society with food right now and farming.

Can you please break down what the farm bill is in a nutshell, but also what challenges are Black farmers facing today?

Yeah.

So I think you gave a really good setup, you know, in the introduction.

The Farm Bill is a really massive piece of legislation.

It covers everything ranging from credit, commodity assistance, nutrition to forestry, research and development, especially crops.

Right.

So it covers a lot of ground.

It typically has at least 12 different titles.

It covers SNAP funding.

It can cover energy.

So it's a lot of things in the Farm Bill.

Typically, it is renewed every five years, but right now we are working off of the 2018 Farm Bill, which means that it should have been reauthorized in 2023.

Here we are in 2026, and it still is unclear whether that bill will get reauthorized this year.

In the past, you've had this symbiotic relationship with the traditional ag community and the nutrition community.

because you realize that farming and feeding work hand in hand.

And there was at some point a recognition between rural America and the suburban urban America, like, okay, we will support your traditional ag if you support the things that are most important to us, which typically was nutrition assistance.

And unfortunately, we've seen a breakdown in that.

Part of it is when the reconciliation bill was passed last year.