Ascertaining differences between farmer and non-farmer African American forest landowners in Georgia, United States

Despite the importance of farming to rural African Americans (Gilbert et al., 2002) and the role of farmers in forestland ownership, very little literature addresses the role of African American farmers in forestry. This research, based on a survey of seventy African American forest landowners in Georgia, United States, seeks to remedy this gap in the literature by exploring three research questions. First, does the absence of farms among participants affect the characterization of African American forest landowners in the literature? Second, do heirs’ property issues affect farmer forest landowners to the same degree they affect non-farmers? Third, are there significant differences in management activity between farmer and non-farm African American forest landowners? Our results suggest that farmers are less gender diverse and less well educated than non-farmers. Farmers are significantly less likely to have heirs’ property issues. Farmers are also more likely to consider passing their land on an important management goal, and overall are less likely to practice forestry-specific management. We consider these findings an important first step to understanding the role of farmers among African American forest landowners in the Southern United States and believe they will help direct future program and policy planning.