Maryland Land Ownership: Oral Histories Project

Commodities

Practices

• Education and Training: farmer to farmer
• Farm Business Management: land access

Affordable land access is the
number one barrier for small-scale, beginning, and farmers of
color. In the past
century, the United States has seen the highest percentage of
Black farmers at 14 percent in the early 1900s drop to 1 percent
in 19972. In
Maryland, the percentage of Black farmers is slightly above the
national average at 1.4 percent, though Black residents of Maryland make up
roughly 1/3 of the population. 

Majority of farmers who own their
land are white and obtained land through intergenerational wealth
and in the context of systemic discrimination and racialized
violence that perpetuated Black land loss and Indigenous
genocide. This research project aims to understand the
opportunities and challenges farmers of color in Maryland who
lease farm land experience. We will conduct an oral history
project, conducting interviews with farmers of color and
understanding the different pathways taken towards farming and
land ownership.

In this proposal we use Jeffery
Jordan et al. 's definition of Black which “extends to people of
African descent” including
multiracial and mixed race. Our study will have the following
intentions:

1. To study and strengthen
   farmer’s understanding of Black land loss and the importance of
   land ownership for long-term farm viability 
2. Understand the challenges
   farmers of color in Maryland face in obtaining land ownership
   disseminated across the following intersections (sorted by
   alphabetical order):
   1. Age
   2. County in Maryland
   3. Gender identity
   4. Immigrant status
3. To explore the potential for
   land-back reparations model to increase the amount of Black
   land ownership in Maryland

This project aims to explore the
following objectives:

• To study and strengthen
  farmer’s understanding of Black land loss and the importance of
  land ownership for long-term farm viability 
• Understand the challenges
  farmers of color in Maryland face obtaining land ownership
  through oral history collection
• To explore the potential for
  land-back reparations model to increase the amount of Black
  land ownership in Maryland