Warnock seeds fortunes of Georgia’s Black farmers as gridlock stalls federal farm bill

U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock hosts a roundtable with Georgia farmers to discuss mental health in the agriculture community on May 30, 2022, in Musella, Georgia. Georgia Public Broadcasting

With the federal farm bill set to expire this month and a steep farm profit decline on the horizon, Georgia’s Black farmers, who have faced decades of racial discrimination at the hands of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, remain more vulnerable than ever to economic downturn. 

Black farmers have long been denied USDA farm loans and assistance despite attempts at reform including a 1999 class action lawsuit where Black farmers sued the USDA for denying them access to low interest grants and loans. In 2022, Congress passed a bill to set aside $2 billion for farmers who proved they were discriminated against. 

Fighting racial discrimination in farming has been a priority for Georgia Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, who pledged on the campaign trail to provide aid to struggling farmers and who has advocated for the relief. This summer, Warnock celebrated when the USDA announced it would distribute the funds, including about $137 million of the funds would be distributed to nearly 2,200 Georgia farmers. 

Though help is on the way, it may not be enough as Georgia farmers brace for another tough year ahead. 

Howard James, owner of Jibb’s Vineyard in Byromville, Georgia, is the third generation in his family to farm the 40-acre plot. In 2021, Warnock campaigned at Jibb’s Vineyard, speaking to a crowd of Black farmers that included James and promising desperately needed financial relief. James said it’s been a cycle of buying high and selling low, making the farm business unsustainable. 

“We count on the government to give us a subsidy to make the difference, but they don’t always do it,” he said. “It leaves us in a bind.”

The government demands farmers grow crops at a certain price, but when it comes time to sell, James added, it always goes for less. 

“Nobody stays in business if they lose more than what they put up,” he said. 

In the last four years, James said assistance from the government has gotten worse because programs that made a difference for small farmers no longer exist and crop insurance does not provide enough to make ends meet. 

“Record inflation, sky-high input costs, and low commodity prices over the past four years have had a significant, negative impact on all Georgia farmers – especially on our small, family farms,” Republican Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper said in a statement to the Recorder. 

At the state level, the Local Food Procurement Assistance program puts $23 million into helping minority producers increase their production capabilities. 

It may be a while before prospects for Georgia’s Black farmers get better. The federal farm bill, which Congress usually drafts every five years, is nearly a year behind as partisan politics keep Republicans and Democrats in a stalemate. The last farm bill expired in 2023 and was extended for another year, an outcome that seems likely to happen again for 2024. 

“The extension just puts you on autopilot and doesn’t really give Congress the ability to set a new course from agriculture policy in any meaningful way,” said Emory University associate professor of political science Alexander Bolton. 

While an extension forestalls the worst case scenario – a farm bill expiration – from happening, Bolton added, it would not be ideal for creating updated policies or dealing with immediate issues. 

Drafting a new farm bill is out of the question in Congress’ current state, Bolton said. Payments from the farm bill that support farmers have taken on new meanings, complicated by issues like nutrition programs, climate change and wildlife, that lead to Republican and Democratic clashes in the House and Senate. 

“For the sake of our hardworking farmers in Georgia and across the country, we cannot afford to continue delaying action on a Farm Bill,” Warnock said in a statement to the Recorder. “As a member of the Senate Agriculture committee, I have been laser-focused on securing a bipartisan, common sense farm bill that addresses some of the most pressing challenges facing this community and will continue pushing for action as soon as possible. My message to Georgia farmers is simple: I have your back.”

Farmers on the ground in Georgia, like James, face the everyday realities of financial hardship without adequate government support: wildlife destruction of crops, unaffordable equipment and crops that cost more to grow than they earn back.

James said he hopes the government will step in to help farms like his survive. When farmers do everything right, he added, “you shouldn’t have to lose your farm.”