8th National Black Land Loss Summit ~ "The Value of Land in a Post-Katrina America

8th National Black Land Loss Summit
“The Value of Land in a Post-Katrina America”
Historic Tillery Resettlement Community and
Historic Franklinton Center at Bricks, North Carolina
February 17-19, 2006

Farming is a matter of timing, an ancient recognition of universal order. Black Farmers long ago embraced and measured the movement of our sun, our earth, our moon, and our stars. Thus, a documented concept of time began in the agricultural field of a Black Farmer, long ago.

It would have been nice 25 years ago or even 15 years ago if consumers in urban Black communities were ready to buy direct from rural Black Farmers. It would have been nice, even 10 years ago when the national co-op movement was beginning to look for regional small farmers and locally grown markets. Today, the desire to start new businesses and focus on farm fresh food in the inner city communities of America is a matter of timing.

Winter of 2006, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the number of calls and emails from emerging small Black Businesses who want to develop new co-op markets, faith-based buying networks, farm to school agreements and urban farmers markets that include Black Farmers is encouraging. The timing is good and coincides with a series of U.S. Congressional actions that may resolve long-standing obstacles to developing a healthy Black Agriculture industry.

Most of our Nations Black Farmers are dead or out of business. Many of the remaining farmers have gone back to row crop farming, peanuts, cotton, soybeans, etc. and/or are considering farming rural housing developments. The few Black farmers who are willing to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for urban Black consumers are very skeptical. Many are being asked, once again, to take all the financial risk of ‘Farming While Black’ for a volatile futures market.

Urban Black communities are encouraged to set-up co-op markets and produce stands on new business model demonstrating community support for Black agriculture. Risk Management for the healthy Black community is a benefit of a healthy Black Agricultural community.

The urban Black community is an extremely potential lucrative market for Black Farmers and Agriculturalists. Adverse health impacts directly related to poor diet has the nearly 80 billion dollars Black Americans spend on food looking to a better return on the investment of daily food consumption. The unnecessary strain on health care providers, insurance companies, government services are beginning to acknowledge a new paradigm.

The U.S. Black consumers historically have not supported the Black Farmers in North America, South America, the Africa Union and the Caribbean Union. We all face very difficult odds and can benefit from sharing the lessons of our unique survival stories and Black Land Loss battles, time will tell if it not too late for the independent Black family farmer.


Another reality that must be faced head on is the global agricultural marketplace. The World Trade Organization is demanding that America reduce her agricultural subsidies. Large corporate farmers are moving to Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Nigeria, and South Africa etc., where land, labor, fuel and equipment costs are greatly reduced.

Small Black Farmers globally are facing a similar fate of the Black Farmer in America, isolation and elimination in a changing global marketplace. Unnatural, artificial barriers face Black Farmers globally under the current system of access to financial capital necessary for farm inputs.

Today, while the infrastructure for large food production for America is shifting to Mexico, Brazil etc. displacing the local small farmer with the expansion of NAFTA. Food is being imported to America much cheaper than the American farmer can grow it, what is the effective nutritional value? Innovative business models will bridge the gap of diet related health ‘dis-ease.’ Ethnically based and culturally relevant locally grown fruits and vegetables is an ancient model based upon ‘self-determination’ and economic development.

The 8th National Black Land Loss Summit continues an ongoing dialogue toward ‘self-determination,’ beginning with land ownership. The National Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association has grown out of the Historic New Deal Tillery Resettlement Community, North Carolina to serve all Black Farmers and we continue to nurture collaborative relationships with farmers and agriculturalists worldwide.

Black Farmers in America continue to face unique challenges and opportunities and few place in America demonstrate the historic battle for ‘self-determination’ than Tillery, Halifax County, North Carolina.

Hurricane Katrina and the ongoing impacts of that tragic regional event has awakened public awareness toward environmental degradation, adverse health risks, loss of economic vitality, community displacement and disparaging treatment in government services. The value of land in a Post-Katrina America is a theme that challenges us all to search for innovative solutions to a difficult problem, the time to solve our problems is now.

For 8th National Black Land Loss Summit Details call (252) 826-2800 or email tillery [at] aol.com