Adoption of Sustainable Farming and Ranching Practices among African-American Farmers: Helping and Hindering Factors and the Role of the 2008 Farm Bill

Problem
There is increasing agreement among academic observers and others who study agriculture and work with farmers that sustainable practices can be beneficial, especially for the economic, environmental and social benefits they can bring. However, relatively few systematic studies have been conducted to determine the prevalence of specific practices and the role of federal policy and its subsequent implementation in promoting or hindering adoption of sustainable practices. None of the existing studies, as far as we are aware focus on these issues as they pertain and affect Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (SDFR).

The 2008 Farm Bill is notable in part because of its attention to the needs of beginning and limited resource farmers. Several of its key provisions appear to have the potential to help Socially Disadvantaged Farmers and Ranchers (SDFR) adopt sustainable practices such as the Environmental Quality Incentive Program(EQUIP) , 2501 Outreach and Education Program and the Beginning Farmers and Ranchers Program but it is not clear whether this potential has been realized. A variety of potential factors could work to frustrate the stated intent of legislation, including legislative and administrative stipulations; inadequate training and information for local, frontline agency personnel; residual negative attitudes toward SDFR applicants; and others. Some Farm Bill provisions appear to have the potential to significantly impact the practices of individual farmers, but only if these provisions are adequately funded and implemented so as to recognize and address the circumstances in which these farmers and ranchers must operate.

Rationale
In conducting the propose study, we have an opportunity to explore the actual outcomes of a set of legislative and executive initiatives among a vulnerable group of farmers. Policy initiatives are too often examined only from the implementing agency's perspective. Here, we propose to focus on the “subject” of policy, the farmer.

We propose to utilize the results to explore, with farmers and professional agricultural workers, possible solutions to barriers or problems uncovered in the process of completing the study.

Significance
The proposed study is significant not only for the understanding of African-American farmers in the Deep South (our chosen field of study) but also is potentially meaningful for other African-American farmers (most of whom are small landholders with relatively limited resources) and for other small, limited resource farmers in the South and other regions of the United States.

The study is also significant from a systems perspective, in that it will illuminate the relationship between the decision to adopt certain sustainable practices, the availability of information and financial resources from governmental and private sector organizations, a farmer's individual farm environment, and the potential benefits to be derived from a given set of changes in operations.

Because most of the farmers we study are relatively limited in resources, the study will yield some important insights into the sustainability of a group of small farmers and ranchers who also are socially disadvantaged.

Context
African-American-owned farms comprise 31,912 of all 2,204,792 farms in the United States (1.4%). In the four study states, they account for 12,466 of the 173,576 farmers in these states (7.6%). African-American farmers in the four study states account for 39.1% of all African-American farmers. Note that “farmers” are here defined by the same criteria as those used in the Census of Agriculture. The census definition of a farm is “any place from which $1,000 or more of agricultural products were produced and sold, or normally would have been sold, during the census year.”

African-American farmers in the Deep South on the average own or operate smaller acreage than white farmers in the same counties. While all farms in these states average 215 acres, African-American farms average 107 acres in the four states selected for study, or 49.8% of all farms.

Potential Economic, Environmental, and Social Impact of the Anticipated Project Outcome
The study will draw on the practical experience of both socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers (SDFR) and professionals who work with them to produce realistic recommendations for the improvement of programs intended to promote various sustainable practices. The Federation and Tuskegee faculty who will be involved in the study all have extensive and lengthy experience with both agricultural policies and their impact, intended or unintended, on farmers. The proposed study represents an unusual opportunity to examine the practical effects of policies intended to promote sustainable agriculture from various perspectives of financial assistance, information and technical assistance, and market development.

The Federation will use results of the study (1) to inform and better focus our advocacy and technical assistance efforts and (2) to formulate input to the Secretary of Agriculture for regulatory changes and for provisions of the 2014 Farm Bill, recommending changes as necessary that would improve the delivery of these programs to SDFR's and better foster the adoption of sustainable practices and the benefits they can bring.

Ultimately, the study will provide overall and site-specific observations about the factors that play a role in farmers' decision-making about production and marketing methods that advance or fail to advance sustainable farming. The decisions affect the quality of life of the farmers in question and their potential for increasing income and employment for themselves and others, especially among small and medium-sized farms.