Report of the USDA Task Force on Black Farm Ownership

Excerpts from the Executive Summary: Earlier this year the Secretary of Agriculture appointed a Task Force of senior department officials and agency experts to review programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their effectiveness in addressing the special problems of black farmers and to make recommendations for changes in departmental policies and programs to better serve these farmers. This action was in response to concerns raised in a February 1982 report of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The Task Force began its task by studying the decline in the number of black farms in the context of overall changes in the farm sector. Economic, social and technological changes over the past 50 years have contributed to a decrease in total farm numbers from 6.8 million in the 1930s to 2.4 million today. The largest decreases occurred among those farms with the weakest economic base which could not compete with the attraction of the cities, could least afford the conversion to mechanization, could not provide an adequate livelihood for its families from farm earnings and could not, for various reasons, supplement farm earnings with nonfarm sources of income. The majority of black farms were in this group. Nearly three-fifths of all black operated farms sell less than $2,500 of products annually. Just over 92 percent market less than $20,000 of farm products annually. Over half of these report farming as their principal occupation. Even with the best of profit margins it is difficult to provide an adequate family income with gross sales of less than $20,000. More than half of all black farmers were at least 55 years old in 1978; nearly 30 percent were over 65; less than 8 percent were under 35 years of age. In contrast, among white farmers the number under 35 years is equal to the number 65 and over. Unless conditions change so that more young black people enter farming, the number of black farm operators will continue to decline. The Department of Agriculture acknowledges its responsibility to serve all U.S. farmers. Removal of any policies or practices of the Department which interfere with the free access of black farmers to USDA programs is a high priority.