Black Farmer Demands Policy Changes

MILWAUKEE (DTN) -- The president of the National Black Farmers Association is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to choose an Agriculture secretary "for all of America's farmers" while also criticizing how Democrats chose to ignore issues important to farmers and rural America -- especially border security.

A fourth-generation farmer, Boyd has been farming for 41 years and is the long-time president of the National Black Farmers Association. In that role, he has pushed USDA and agricultural lenders to offer better credit terms and access to Black producers.

Last week Boyd had an opportunity to speak to hundreds of bankers at the American Bankers Association's Agricultural Bankers Conference in Milwaukee.

"The government hasn't been very friendly to American Black farmers," he said.

Boyd is among the minority farm leaders who have repeatedly sued USDA over discrimination with loan programs in the past. At one time, Boyd said it would take 387 days to approve a loan for a Black farmer while it would take 30 days to approve a similar loan for a white farmer, Boyd said.

TIMELY CREDIT NEEDED

Boyd told the bankers that Black farmers still rely heavily on USDA's loan programs for both operating loans and ownership loans. One of the things Black producers need is more access to timely credit, he said.

"The situation with planting and harvesting is changing in America whether we want to own up to it or not. It's shorter planting seasons and shorter harvest seasons, so if farmers can't get access to credit on time, it affects our bottom lines with such a small margin of error," he said.

He added, "So access to credit is one thing that's a top priority. We need more ag lenders in the country."

When it comes to relationships with banks, Boyd said a recent survey of Black farmers at their national convention showed only about 13% of Black producers have a personal relationship with a banker. That hurts Black farmers when local property comes up for auction and they don't have an established credit line with a bank.

"Many Black farmers are afraid of you guys," Boyd said. "They find you intimidating. They are afraid of bankers and we need to be more prepared for presenting ourselves to you as a banker."

DECLINE OF FARMERS

Boyd also talked about the decline of Black farmers over the past century, falling from more than 1 million Black producers with more than 20 million acres of land to fewer than 50,000 Black farmers with roughly 3 million acres of land now.

He added, however, that the problems with farming nationally holding on to land or buying land aren't just felt by Black producers.

"All farmers are losing land in this country," Boyd said. "If we don't start working together to put agriculture first and America's farmers first, we're going to lose a lot of our rich history there."

In an interview with DTN, Boyd said he supports efforts in Congress to ban Chinese businesses from buying U.S. farmland. Chinese investors right now own an estimated 370,000 or so acres of U.S. farmland, according to USDA. Foreign investors overall own more than 40 million acres nationally.

"Put America's farmers first. I would much rather see a white farmer get that land that a guy bidding for China," he said.

Boyd noted U.S. farmers can't go overseas to China to buy farm ground. "I can't even get into their country unless I have a special visa, but they come here and buy our land," he said. "You can't go into anybody else's country and do what they're doing in the United States."

WISH TO RESOLVE DEBT RELIEF

Asked what he would like to see from President-elect Donald Trump, Boyd said Black farmers would still like to see the full debt relief for roughly 17,000 producers that had been promised by Congress. Yet, Congress ended up rescinding some of the aid specifically for minority farmers after white farmers sued for discrimination.

"We would like to resolve debt relief," Boyd said. "It was repealed by Congress, so we didn't get it."

BE STRONGER ON BORDER SECURITY

Talking about the results of the presidential election, Boyd also said he disagreed with the Democratic party on border security and had talked about these issues on the Fox News network.

"We're not strong enough on the border," he said, adding "They bring them here, they give them credit cards, they put them up in a house and give them food -- stuff they never did for a Black man in this country."

Boyd said Vice President Kamala Harris should have spoken more aggressively about border security and said she differed with President Joe Biden on the issue.

"That's what the little guy with the ball cap in Wisconsin and all of these battleground states wanted to hear. 'I'm going to enforce the border and the border is going to look different.'" Boyd said. "They don't hear you are going to leave this border open and anything goes. That's why you saw the margin and what happened."

DEMOCRATS AND RURAL AMERICA

Democrats "have some real issues" and need to have a better message for rural America overall, Boyd said. A Democratic candidate cannot just rely on urban areas if they want to win national races.

"They don't have a message for farmers. You have got to be able to come out here and talk to farmers about what they need and what and how you are going to incorporate them into your tent. You have got some blue states on the outskirts now and inside you have all that red across the map. And that's because we're not speaking to rural America and America's farmers."

Boyd said Democrats don't want to hear criticisms about immigration, even among groups that back them. "That's not the way for this political process to work. I represent an organization that's voting your way. I should be able to stand up at the convention and talk about what my real issues are."

VIEW ON TRUMP

Speaking about Trump, Boyd said he hopes the president-elect will seek to moderate some of his stances. The selection of who will run USDA also is critical, he said.

"I do think President-elect Trump is going to have to tone it done, move to the middle and bring this country together. OK, you won and people voted. They saw everything he did and didn't do and they voted for him. There are some people over here that need to be part of this platform too. Don't write off a group of people who are citizens of this country."

He added, "For that Ag secretary that you tap, 'Will you be an Agriculture secretary for all of America's farmers?' I hope that would be a question the president-elect would ask the incoming Ag secretary to work with all farmers, regardless of size or color."

Boyd also told the agricultural bankers that the country has to learn to disagree but continue to work together to put the country and farmers first.

"Just because we disagree doesn't mean we can't agree to move forward," he said.

Chris Clayton can be reached at Chris.Clayton@dtn.com

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