Supporting Black Farmers in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier

ESSAY from REBEKAH WILLIAMS

This year during Black History Month, the New York State Agriculture Commissioner announced that up to $50,000 in grant funding was available to support projects that engage communities of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) involved in agriculture in the Genesee Valley. The funding was provided by the Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority (GVRMA), in collaboration with the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. According to the press release circulated by NYSDAM the funding is meant to “strengthen New York State’s diverse agricultural industry and spur economic growth,” and the GVRMA “solicits applications each year to assist in the development of agriculture and agriculture-related businesses in nine counties in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier regions: Genesee, Livingston, Monroe, Ontario, Orleans, Steuben, Wayne, Wyoming, and Yates.”

Black farmers and growers in the Finger Lakes and Southern Tier can also find support from other initiatives and networks in the state, including Black Farmer Fund (BFF), an emerging community investment fund that invests in Black food systems entrepreneurs in New York State. Black food systems entrepreneurs, including farmers, food distributors, caterers, restaurant owners, composters, vendors, and others were invited to complete an online form to be considered for deals capped at $50,000 of blended capital (a mix of loans and grants). According to the BFF website: “Beyond making investments in these communities, we also emphasize building financial education and investment literacy and active involvement of the community when discussing and creating financing options.”

I am a facilitator and organizer with an organization called Food for the Spirit, which is seeking to connect with Black farmers, growers, and food processors in this region. Through the development of a newly emerging NYS Black Farmers Co-op, Food for the Spirit will connect interested farmers with existing initiatives and networks, and provide them with support for marketing and product development.

An article on the Food for the Spirit website explains that in December 2020, a steering committee composed of farmers and stakeholders “met to discuss how a co-op might meaningfully address organizing and infrastructure gaps that have been barriers to Black farmers success. With only 139 Black farmers of the 57,000 NYS farmers accounted for by the 2017 USDA Census of Agriculture, the steering committee found consensus around the idea of expanding those farmers’ visibility by way of umbrella marketing under a unique brand.”

At this point, some readers might be wondering what the big deal is. Why are people concerned with the low number of Black farmers in the state? Why are there resources and opportunities being developed explicitly for Black farmers.

According to Black Farmers United NYS, a statewide advocacy group of Black farmers and food systems actors:

“Black farmers have a long history in New York State, dating back to 1640 when the Dutch ceded sections of Manhattan stolen from the Lenape people to formerly enslaved black people to farm.  By 1910, despite the legacy of slavery and racist policies, 295 black farmers lived and worked in New York State.  Over the next 100 years, the number of black New Yorkers increased by 2,000% to 3,073,800.  Yet the number of black New York farmers declined from 295 to 139, a 52% decrease.

Farming is big business in New York State —a $42 billion industry on which every other sector relies. Yet black farmers’ contributions in New York are often undercounted, overlooked, and undervalued, to the detriment of the health and prosperity of black communities statewide. We have long felt the failures of food security approaches that relegate black people to consumers—ignoring the potential of black rural and urban farmers, distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and other food and land workers who understand our needs and build power and wealth in our communities.  Together, our group of more than 20 black farmers, educators, and food justice advocates from across the state developed 9 Solutions for Racial Inequity in New York Agriculture.”

Black Farmers United NYS is not alone in seeking to identify solutions for the declining numbers of Black farmers statewide. In 2020, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo pledged in his State of the State address “to ensure New York State agricultural industries represent an inclusive and viable career path for everyone.” Subsequently, the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets (NYSDAM) established a Diversity and Racial Equity Workgroup, of which I am a member. The NYSDAM is working with members of the Diversity and Racial Equity Workgroup to create a strategic plan to address inequities in agriculture, and in March of 2021, we are in the midst of developing that plan.

When I was asked by NYSDAM to serve on their Diversity and Inclusion Workgroup, I agreed because I want to ensure that farmers and growers in our region are connected and considered in their planning process. Without representation from our local community, Black farmers and growers and processors in our region will be left out and unable to access these important resources. I hope that through opportunities such as the grant offered through the Genesee Valley Regional Market Authority, and the emerging Black Farmers Co-op supported by Food for the Spirit, we will be able to connect more people in our region to these efforts. 

If you or someone you know can benefit from connecting with the networks and opportunities mentioned in this article, please reach out to me at Rebekah@foodforthespirit.org. I hope to hear from you.

Rebekah Williams is a community organizer and trainer living in the Finger Lakes region. She is co-founder of an emerging not-for-profit organization, Food for the Spirit, which is committed to racial healing towards ecological justice and equitable food systems, and she is employed by the Massachusetts Avenue Project in Buffalo. Rebekah also serves on the board of the Northeast Sustainable Agriculture Working Group and she supports several local, state, and national initiatives including: Anchors in Action Alliance, Black Farmer Fund Pilot Community, Black Farmers United NYS, Good Food Buffalo Coalition, New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets Diversity and Racial Equity Workgroup, and the Rochester Folk Art Guild.