$2 billion boost highlights the need to restore 1 million Black farms across the Black Belt

NEW YORK — A little noticed $2 billion shot in the arm for Black farmers can be the spark for reversing a century old decline in agribusiness, according to the opening 31 Ways 31 Days session of the 2024 Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month.

John William Templeton, author of VOTEBLACKBUSINESS: State of Black Business, 21st ed., underscored the taxation without representation that cost 1 million Black farmers in 1930 their land. He listed the number of farms by state in the 1930 Census, the first to record the number of Black businesses.

For instance, Mississippi had 182,000 Black farms in 1930, but no state has more than 1,000 Black farmers currently.

The Biden-Harris administration implemented Sen. Raphael Warnock’s amendment to the Inflation Reduction Act on July 31 by distributing $2 billion to 43,000 farmers, ranchers and forest owners who experienced discrimination. The process had been held up by opposition from white farmers for more than two decades.

Architect of Our10Plan: the African-American economic strategy, Templeton meets weekly with business leaders from North Carolina to Mississippi. He is on Entrepreneurs Edge with Alabama State Black Chamber President Jerry Mitchell on Monday, Aug. 5.

During a May trip to meet with a dozen federal agencies, the Southern Regional Economic Roundtable spend an afternoon with the U.S. Dapartment of Agriculture to learn about the many ways that the department can foster economic development.

Urban agriculture and export markets are also opportunities for rebuilding African-American agriculture to 1 million strong over the next three years. As Chair of Central Brooklyn Economic Development Corp. in New York City, Templeton leads an organization that has funded multiple gardens in vacant lots that beautify neighborhoods and provide much needed fresh food.

During the second 31 Ways 31 Days on Aug. 2, Templeton will describe how the Journal of Black Innovation National Black Business Month has sparked a gain in one sector of agribusiness from a few vintners in northern California to more than 500 spirits manufacturers.

“We can do the same thing with greens, corn, fruits by branding for individual counties and communities,” says Templeton. “The 1930 Census described by county how many pigs, chickens and farm implements Black farmers had.”