The Color of Food
photo credit: Marley Carter
On January 12, 1865, a group of 20 Black ministers, nine of them formerly enslaved, met with General William T. Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton at a mansion in Savannah, Georgia.
There was only one item on the evening’s agenda — the future of the formerly enslaved Black people of the South. And twelve questions which all asked essentially the same thing of the leaders — what do you want for your own people?
Reverend Garrison Frazier, a 67-year-old Baptist minister, born in Granville, N.C. and enslaved until 1857, had an unequivocal answer for Sherman and Stanton. Which was: “land…to have land and turn it and till it by our own labor…and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare.”
The seed was thus planted for Gen. Sherman’s War Order No. 15, approved by President Abraham Lincoln and issued a few days later on Jan. 16. The order called for the redistribution of 400,000 acres of land, with individual families receiving a plot of no more than 40 acres, eventually giving rise to the phrase “40 acres and a mule.”
By the following June, 40,000 freedmen had settled on “Sherman Land.” Their residency was short-lived. When Andrew Johnson became president after Lincoln’s assassination, he overturned War Order No. 15 in the fall of 1865, returning most of the 400,000 acres to white planters and dashing the dreams of the freedmen to have land of their own to till.
For the last 150 years, Black farms across the country have been buffeted by forces as varied as Southern Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, New Deal agricultural legislation, heirs’ property restrictions and USDA assistance programs.
In 1920, Black farmers operated 925,710 farms, about one-seventh of all farm operations, and represented 14% of U.S. farmers. Today they account for less than 2% of all farmers nationally; and in Kentucky, about 1.4%, or fewer than 600 farmers.
Ashley Smith, who with Trevor Claiborn co-founded Black Soil: Our Better Nature in 2017, wants to change that math. Black Soil’s mission is to reconnect Black Kentuckians with their agricultural heritage by bringing together urban families with both urban and rural Black farmers and food producers.
Attending City Hall meetings in Lexington, Ky., Ashley saw firsthand “how land was dictating power and accessibility.” Central Kentucky’s historic freetown rural hamlets “had a rich heritage and legacy of farming and they were being erased. It blew my mind how people could be in plain sight and overlooked.”
Capitalizing on Ashley’s event management skills and Trevor’s Farmer Brown persona, Black Soil initially focused on farm-based events that showcased family farms around the state. Ashley says they “wanted to see people experience events on farms to reinforce the work that farmers did. (We were) growing respect and relationship.”
Forging connections between urban families and Black farmers was just part of the equation. Black Soil’s vision also includes helping Black growers build their market share, and addressing food insecurity by making healthy food more widely accessible. That’s why Black Soil was an early participant at the Julietta Market in Lexington’s Greyline Station, once a Southeastern Greyhound bus terminal.
When Covid-19 shut down in-person events and shuttered storefronts, Black Soil altered course to concentrate on community supported agriculture (CSA) programs and other food products as the best way to serve farmers and families alike. One of those farmers is Travis Cleaver who owns Cleav’s Family Market in Bonnieville, Ky. and was just named Kentucky State University’s Small Farmer of the Year.
photo credit: Marley Carter
Black Soil’s CSA membership has grown from 50 families to 150; it has entered into pilot programs for workplace shares with the University of Kentucky and Lexington Fayette Urban County Government; and it continues to form partnerships with Keeneland, AppHarvest, United Healthcare and others, including faith groups like First Baptist Church Bracktown.
Black Soil also works with artisans and chefs like Chris Cain who owns Daughters’ Southern food truck. Ashley and Chef Chris recently collaborated on a presentation for Governor Andy Beshear’s AgriTech Advisory Council, during which Chef Chris cooked up a mess of his famous collard greens.
After a short holiday break, Ashley and Black Soil are making plans for the new year, starting with the resumption of CSA distribution on Jan. 16 and a special event with Luna Lexington, Fresh Bourbon and Al’s Bar on Feb. 18.
For 2022 Ashley says she’s really excited “about finally figuring it out. I’ve learned how to slow down and take a deep breath and look at the whole plane.” She believes the push for localized food systems will continue to increase and that “now more than ever, people know how to advocate for themselves and are demanding quality food, and access to it.”
Ashley Smith, Trevor Claiborn aka Farmer Brown, Travis Cleaver, Chris Cain all stand on the front line of a growing movement in the United States aimed at righting past wrongs and creating opportunity for the future.
Change at the USDA and other institutions has been slow to gain traction; but the controversy following the 1999 Pigford v. Glickman decision, and the accelerant provided by Covid-19 stresses, along with a growing awareness of historical injustices, all offer a faint ray of hope.
In summer 2021, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced an unprecedented relief program formulated to wipe away an estimated $4 billion in debts owed by farmers of color. But as an NPR report noted, Black farmers are skeptical that the Congressional mandate, which Vilsack acknowledges is just “the beginning of a beginning”, will make up for decades of discrimination.
Vilsack’s “beginning of a beginning”, much like Sherman’s 40 acres, was quickly derailed by lawsuits filed by other farmers and is still held up in court. Another attempt to deliver relief, without mention of color or race, was included in the Build Back Better legislation which failed recently to pass the Senate.
After seeing their share of direct loans hit a 10-year low in 2020, Black farmers continue to advocate forcefully for better access to lending and other USDA assistance. But when the federal government awarded massive grants during the first summer of Covid-19, less than one percent of the money went to farmers of color, even though they constitute five percent of U.S. farmers.
Kentucky Small Farmer of the Year Travis Cleaver has firsthand experience with the daunting challenges of pursuing USDA loans. He told Politico that USDA requirements for loan applications are often “a double-edged sword” and that he was only successful after several attempts when a staffer at his local Farm Service Agency walked him through the process, hand in hand and step by step.
As 2022 dawns, much is still uncertain about the future of Black farming in America. But in Kentucky we have Black Soil, Community Farm Alliance and the KSU Center for Sustainability of Farms and Families; and champions like Ashley Smith, Trevor Claiborn, Chris Cain, and Travis Cleaver to help us celebrate the history of Black agriculture and lead us toward a more equitable future.
And to populate that future, Kentucky’s Future Farmers of America affiliate reports that Black students now account for three percent of its membership, with other students of color constituting another seven percent, and that these percentages have been increasing steadily in the last few years. Which is wonderful news.
Because after all, food comes in many colors and so do the farmers who grow it.
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