Davis, Paul.  "Banks struggle to help poorest areas in the Triad region."  The Business Journal.  21 May 2004.  "If we can't get conventional loans, we may have to look at suing (various banks), said John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association in southern Virginia, who hopes that such a move would bring more attention to CRA while forcing banks to make more loans to black farmers in the Triad and elsewhere. We're holding that out as a last resort.

Davis, Paul.  "Developers get more capital for affordable housing."  The Business Journal.  21 May 2004.  Director of housing development/Hope VI for the Housing Authority of

    the City of High Point, is excited about the progress made so far with the Spring Brook Meadows subdivision on Granville Street in southeast High Point.

Davis, Paul.  "Project Homestead shows potential risk of CRA-related loans."  The Business Journal. When bankers seek loans that will help them earn a good

    Community Reinvestment Act rating, their credit risks can be multiplied.  Bankruptcy experts say some of the banks could recoup some of the problem loans. 

08/10/04 - Martin, Andrew.  USDA discrimination accused of withering black farmers.  Chicago Tribune.  10 August 2004.  "I think the number would be extraordinarily higher if a black farmer could walk into (a USDA office) and receive a loan like white farmers do," said John Boyd, a Virginia tobacco grower and president of the National Black Farmers Association".

Smith, Kelly.  Black farmers have beef with the USDA:  loan denials spark legislation

    proposal to protect African American farmers - proposed USDA Accountability and

    Equity Act.  Black Enterprise.  January 1998.  "Boyd is planning more marches and

    continued pressure on the USDA to fully fund and monitor federal programs that

    issue operating and equipment loans to minority and small farm owners".

08/15/04 - Martin, Andrew.  Report:  USDA's bias hurts blacks.  Chicago Tribune.  

    "The number of black farmers has declined because of the Great Migration of blacks

    from the rural South to the urban North and because of discrimination by the

    government and private lenders".

08/10/04 - Editorial:  Fairness drought/Black farmers still seek justice after win in court.  Pittsburg Post-

    Gazette. "The Bush administration needs to give the farmers what

    they deserve".

07/20/04 - Black Farmers Say US Agriculture Department Withholding Compensation.  VOA News. 

    "The National Black Farmers Association and the Environmental

    Working Group released a report Tuesday claiming that the USDA has rejected

    payments to more than 80 percent of African American farmers who applied".

Clemetson, Lynette.  Black Farmers Accuse Agriculture Dept. of Failing to Live Up to Racial

    07/21/04 - Bias Settlement.  The New York Times.  21 July 2004.  "We're going to do the right

    thing and go to our Congressional leaders first," said Mr. Boyd, a fourth-generation

    tobacco farmer from Baskerville, Va. "But we are prepared to come to Washington

    with tractors and mules and whatever else will help us bring attention to this".

07/19/04 - Black Farmers Didn't Get Settlement.  Associated Press.  "The settlement, one of the largest in a civil rights case, was aimed at

    resolving a 1997 lawsuit by black farmers who said they had been systematically

    denied federal loans and subsidies because of their race".

07/204/04 - Black Farmers Ask Congress for Compensation.  Reuters. . 

    "John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association, said he met with

    Democrats on Monday and was "very optimistic" that lawmakers would soon

    introduce legislation to help black farmers".

07/20/04 - Claim:  USDA slow to pay.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "John Boyd, a fourth-generation Virginia tobacco farmer and the president of

    the National Black Farmers Association, said the USDA has done little to help

    farmers still seeking redress".

07/21/04 - Black farmers reap frustration.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  21 July

    2004.  ".....The National Black Farmers Association and the Washington-based

    environmental and health advocacy organization Environmental Working Group

    estimate there may be up to 94,000 eligible farmers". 

07/20/04 - Blacks shut out of farm settlement, group says.  The Clarion-Ledger.  20 July

    2004.  "In a report released Monday, the Environmental Working Group and the    

    National Black Farmers Association said the Bush administration has spent millions

    of dollars to "willfully obstruct justice" by denying the claims of black farmers".

07/27/04 - Restitution for Black Farmers.  The New York Times.  27 July 2004.  "What looked like a

    good settlement, promising prompt payment to black farmers, now looks like a

    failure, according to a new investigation by the Environmental Working Group, an

    advocacy group".  

07/22/04 -   Black Farmers' Claims Rejected in Bias Case.  The Los Angeles Times.  22

    July 2004.  "A two-year probe by the Environmental Working Group and the

    National Black Farmers Assn. found that the government had denied restitution to

    81,000 out of 94,000 black farmers who sought compensation."

06/22/04 - Black farmers object to bank merger.  Richmond Times Dispatch.  22 June

    2004. "Wachovia has done a poor job of lending dollars to African-American

    farmers,"said John Boyd Jr., president of the Virginia-based organization."

06/21/04 -   Wachovia to Acquire SouthTrust for $14B.  Associated Press.  21 June 2004.

    "John Boyd, head of the National Black Farmers Association, also planned to

    challenge the deal. "It looks to me that as this bank grows larger and larger it

    continues to take branches out of rural America," he said."

06/18/04 -  "Tobacco buyout could help avert 'train wreck".  Richmond Times Dispatch.   

    18 June 2004.  "The buyout was supported by John Boyd of Mecklenburg County,

    president of the National Black Farmers Association, but he was concerned it would

    not provide enough money to help small farmers find alternatives to growing

    tobacco."

04/05/04 - Marriott, Agriculture Department Launch Effort to Assist Minority Farmers (Washington Post)                                            

Marriott International Inc. and the Agriculture Department will begin working
jointly to mentor and train minority farmers trying to sell more food to the
hotel industry, officials and executives said last week.
 
The program is the first attempt by the department to work with business to
improve minority farmers' access to food markets.
 
Under the program, Bethesda-based Marriott will match farmers in mid-Atlantic
and Southern states with the large wholesalers that serve as intermediaries
between farmers and other suppliers to its hotels. Marriott also plans to offer
classes to minority farmers focusing on the company's food safety and appearance
requirements, advanced farming techniques and  development of relationships with
distributors.
 
David M. Sampson, senior vice president of diversity initiatives for Marriott,
said the company has actively recruited minority firms for construction work or
purchases of general goods and services but had not focused on expanding the
sources of its produce. The company has given money to, and maintained ties
with, minority farming organizations such as the National Black Farmers
Association, but this is the first formal effort to nurture minority farmers,
Sampson said.
 
"This is going to enhance opportunities for minority farmers because it's
going to help our organization better understand how to tap into their
organization," he said. Of the $2.2 billion Marriott spent on goods and services
last year, $150 million went to companies owned by women and minorities, Sampson
said. Marriott operates 2,600 hotels under several brand names, including
Ritz-Carlton, Residence Inn and Renaissance Hotels.
 
"There's been a tremendous growth in minority farmers over the past five
years," said Vernon B. Parker, assistant secretary for civil rights at the
Agriculture Department. "We are trying to figure out how to sustain that."
 
John W. Boyd Jr., the president of the National Black Farmers Association,
said the program was a "good effort" by Marriott, but said the Agriculture
Department should do more to help black farmers. Boyd, who owns a 310-acre
poultry and tobacco farm in Baskerville, Va., faulted the department for not
helping black farmers obtain credit and apply for subsidy programs.
 
Although the  number of farms in the United States has been in a long-term
decline, the number of farms operated by  Latinos  jumped 51 percent, to 50,443,
from  1997 to  2002. During the same period, the number of black-operated farms
rose by 9 percent, to 29,145, the Agriculture Department said.  The department
already encourages farmers to form cooperatives and share the costs of packaging
and shipping produce. By themselves, small-farm operators, minority or not,
suffer disadvantages -- a lack of resources to market meat and produce to the
wholesalers, grocery chains and hotels that buy food in bulk, Parker said.
 
"It's kind of hard for one farmer to pull up a truck to Marriott, but if you
have a hundred pulling up their trucks it's a lot easier," he said.
 
Parker said the training program will help create a larger market for these
cooperatives, which the department often supports with guidance and start-up
money. 
 
If successful, the program could serve as a model for similar efforts to expand
the market for food produced by minority farmers, the department said.
 
"We just don't want to stop with the hospitality industry," Parker said.
 
If the program develops a network of co-ops and distributors, Parker  said, "we
will be able to translate that into the grocery industry."

03/08/04 - Dr. John Boyd, keynote speaker at 2004 Annual Small Farm Conference awards banquet

12/08/03 - Black farmer makes 200-mile mule wagon ride to D.C. for agriculture
subsidy bias protest

December 8, 2003
Jet
32
Volume 104; Issue 24; ISSN: 00215996
English
Copyright (c) 2003 Bell & Howell Information and Learning Company. All
rights reserved.
 

For the past two weeks, a Black farmer riding on a mule-drawn wagon
delayed traffic on U.S. Route 1 (North) leading from Southern Virginia
to the nation's capital to draw attention to the plight of Black farmers
in the U.S.
 
Before he left his farm in Baskerville, VA, civil rights figure John W.
Boyd, Jr. announced the unusual trek would help put an end to the
decades-old practice of subsidy bias against Black farmers.
 
Boyd, the president of the National Black Farmers Association, was
scheduled to arrive in front of the Agriculture Department at JET press
time to join in a rally outside the building.
 
Thousands of fellow farmers from throughout the country are expected to
join him for the rally that will be followed by a four-day conference of
his organization in Falls Church, VA.
 
Boyd made the dramatic journey relying upon his mules, 40 Acres and
Struggle. The animals have become celebrities during a decade of efforts
to improve conditions for Black farmers.
 
Last year, Boyd orchestrated a demonstration with Black farmers riding
their tractors on the Agriculture Dept. grounds and along the Mall in
the nation's capital.
 
The farmers have won the largest civil rights settlement in history-once
expected to reach nearly 3 billion. However, the government has failed
to pay off much of the monies, according to Boyd.

11/21/03 -   "Black farmer protests USDA".  Arkansas News Bureau:  A 

    Stephens Media Group Company.  21 Nov. 2003.  "From atop a green     

    mule-drawn wagon, an earnest Virginia farmer in bib overalls struggled 

    to be heard over the din of 12 lanes of trucks, taxies and tourist 

    buses".   

11/21/03 - ABC News:  Person of the Week.  "John Boyd fights for fairness in farm 

    subsidies for black farmers".  21 Nov. 2003.  

11/19/03 -   "USDA Is Target of Protests".  Washington Post.  19 Nov.     

    2003.  Black Farmers Say Bias Persists".  

11/12/03 -    "NBFA President begins trip to nation's capitol."  The South Hill 

    Enterprise.  12 Nov. 2003.  "John Boyd, founder and president of the 

    National Black Farmers' Association, is currently en route to 

    Washington, D. C., where he will join others in rallying for the rights of 

    minority farmers".

11/04/03 -   "Activist hoofing it to Capitol to draw attention to black farmers, 

    mule is taking man to the city."  Richmond Times Dispatch.  4 Nov. 2003.      

    John W. Boyd, Jr., founder of the National Black Farmers Association 

    making his way to Capitol Hill to draw attention to black farmers.

11/04/03 - NPR:  The Tavis Smiley Show.  Interview:  "John Boyd Jr. discusses his ride 

    to Washington in a mule-drawn carriage to proclaim the plight of black 

    farmers".  4 Nov. 2003.

02/07/99 - Bitter Harvest:  How the system ruined Black farmers.  Revolutionary Worker

    Online.  Revolutionary Worker #993.  7 Feb. 1999.     

08/22/02 - "Black Farmer Rally in Washington".  Associated Press.  22 Aug. 2002.  

    Black farmers and their supporters demonstrated outside the 

    Agriculture Department to dramatize claims they are being 

    discriminated against when seeking loans.

09/14/02 - Black farmers picket USDA.  People's Weekly World Newspaper Online.  14

    Sep. 2002.  About 100 African-American farmers picketed the U.S.

    Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington Aug. 22 to protest

    stalling on delivery of restitution payments for thousands of Black

    farmers who were denied government crop loans because they are

    Black.  

01/30/03 - "Black farmers to sell to Cuba".  Associated Press.  30 Jan. 2003.  The 

    National Black Farmers Association is working on a deal to sell Cuba 

    $20-million in corn, soybeans, rice, wheat and chicken this spring.

01/29/03 - "Black Farmers Eye Selling Food to Cuba".  Associated 

    Press.  29 Jan. 2003.  John Boyd, head of the group, said Wednesday 

    that more than 10,000 black farmers would benefit from the 

    agreement with Fidel Castro.

01/25/03 - "US farmer gets discrimination pay-out". BBC News. 25 Jan. 2003.  The 

    United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has agreed to pay a 

    black farmer $6.6 million for discriminating against him by denying 

    him federal farm loans.

01/24/03 -  "USDA agrees to pay $6.6 million to black farmer who 

    alleged discrimination".  Associated Press.  24 Jan. 2003.  The Agriculture 

    Department will pay a black farmer $6.6 million for discriminating 

    against him.

06/19/03 -   "Protesters blast Wal-Mart".  Register & Bee.  19 June 2003.  

    John W. Boyd Jr., president of the National Black Farmers 

    Association, said his lobbying efforts to get vegetables grown by black 

    farmers into the megastore have been ignored.

04/04/03 - The Plight of African American Farmers.  The Black

    World Today.  Today, because so many African Americans live in cities,

    many have forgotten that important legacy of black-owned farms. But

    farming is a keystone to the economic development of the African

    American community.   

11/16/02 - "Cuba to buy food from black U.S. farmers".  Associated Press.  16 Nov. 

    2002.  Cuba agreed to buy food from black American farmers under a 

    U.S. law that allows direct sales of farm products to the island.

08/08/01 - Black Farmers Launch Boycott Against Wachovia.  The Oak

    Ridger Online.  8 Aug 2001.  A group representing more than 60,000

    black farmers launched a boycott against First Union Corp. and

    Wachovia Corp.

09/15/00 -   Shortchanged:  Black Democrat's Campaign Suffers As

    Officials Back White Independent.  New Journal and Guide.  15 Sep.

    2000.   John Boyd, a 34-year-old Virginia Democrat recruited to run

    against veteran Congressman Virgil Goode, is by most accounts an

    attractive candidate for public office.  

12/23/00 - "Bush meets with agriculture leaders".  Associated Press.  23 Dec. 2000.  

    President-elect George W. Bush met with agricultural leaders to hear 

    the concerns of the nation's farmers.

03/02/99 - Black farmers unhappy with proposed bias settlement.  Cable News Network. 

    2 Mar. 1999.  Hundreds of black farmers pleaded emotionally with a

    federal judge Tuesday to amend a proposed settlement in their

    discrimination suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

03/25/98 - Evans, Akwasi.  Black farmers take land dispute to U.N.  NY Daily 

    Challenge.  25 March 1998.  Black farmers' claims of discrimination 

    and unjust treatment went largely ignored.

06/06/98 - Vorman, Julia.  Black Farmers Tell of Bias.  News Service.  6 June 1998.  

    Black farm group head says USDA aide used racial slur.

White, Ben.  USDA Claims Progress Against Bias.  Washington Post.  Agency

    fires 13 employees for civil rights violations; increases loans To black

    farmers. 

Black Farmers Pleased with Clinton Meeting.  All Politics.  18 Dec. 1997.

    Session with president brings promise to help end loan discrimination.

John W. Boyd, Jr.  Biography.   Farmer, 1983-; founder and president, 

    National Black Farmers Association, 1995-.