Black Farmers and Climate Adaptation

View the project final report

Commodities

Practices

• Farm Business Management: land access
• Natural Resources/Environment: climate adaptation
• Sustainable Communities: ethnic differences/cultural and demographic change, local and regional food systems, Black farmers

Farmers’ livelihoods are tied to agriculture and thus are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Farmers in the United States are already being affected by climate change impacts such as intense precipitation and/or drier and warmer weather conditions. Not all farmers are equally affected by climate impacts as farmers' climate change adaptation and resilience are influenced by access to resources, which are unevenly distributed. For Black farmers, vulnerability to climate change is exacerbated by years of institutional racial discrimination and limited access to financial and technical resources. Farmer climate adaptation research has not examined how Black farmers are experiencing and adapting to climate change. This study examines Black farmers’ experiences and responses to climate change. More specifically, the study aims to answer the following question: How are Black farmers experiencing and adapting to climate change?

The study compares Black farmers from a midwestern state (Ohio) and a southern state (North Carolina) via a qualitative approach involving semi-structured interviews with 37 farmers. Most of the Black farmers involved in the study noticed climate impacts and reported being affected by it. The farm impacts reported included direct and indirect climate impacts, positive impacts, and social impacts while the adaptive strategies described included infrastructure-focused strategies, crop-focused strategies, and conservation and mitigation-based strategies. Respondents described experiencing challenges including challenges pertaining directly to their farm operations as well as a lack of access to resources and equipment which can make adapting to climate change more difficult. Black farmers in both Ohio and North Carolina had similar experiences with climate impacts with the difference of pest pressure being more of a problem for North Carolina farmers while having an extended growing season was a positive impact of climate change only reported by Ohio farmers. Farmers from both states also explained the racialized nature of some of the challenges they face especially as it pertains to access to information and resources which some of them linked to their capacity to respond to climate change.  The study underscores the need to support Black farmers existing efforts to adapt to climate change as well as the need for less restrictive and more flexible programs that would allow Black farmers to apply for agricultural programs with more ease and less financial burdens.

The project had the following objectives:

1. Gain an understanding of Black farmers' experiences and responses to climate change. This was done by identifying the socio-economic and biophysical impacts of climate change on Black farmers and their land. Other factors explored include Black farmers’ perception and prioritization of climate risks, the relationship between adaptation strategies and Black farmers’ risk perceptions, and the variation of impacts and responses by location. 
2. Inform climate adaptation and sustainable agriculture programs that work with Black farmers regarding how to assist them with climate adaptation strategies by disseminating the research to practitioners, agricultural staff, and policymakers.