Representing Black Farmers and Families Across The United States

Boyd Collaborates With KJ Marley To Address White Farmer Claims of Reverse Discrimination & Lawsuits Blocking $5Billion in Debt Relief

BOYDTON, Va., Nov. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- White Farmers are suing for Reverse Discrimination to prevent $5Billion in Emergency Relief for Black, Native American and other Farmers of Color. Civil rights leader John Boyd and KJ Skippa Mak Marley collaborated with Kara Brewer Boyd, Association of American Indian Farmers, to release a song "The Land" to highlight historical and ongoing broken promises, broken treaties, racial discrimination and land loss suffered by Native Americans and Black Farmers in the US.

John Boyd, Jr. & KJ “Skippa Mak” Marley performing “The Land” at the 31st Annual National Black Farmers Conference in Boydton, VA. (November 6, 2021)

NBFA Anthem: The Land by John Boyd, Jr. ft. KJ Skippa Mak Marley

"The Land" featuring John Boyd Jr. and KJ Skippa Mak Marley speaks volumes to the challenges we still face.

John Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association, 4th generation Black Farmer in Mecklenburg County, Virginia sued the US Dept of Agriculture (USDA) and received a Fact of Finding for Racial Discrimination which led to the 1st USDA Discrimination settlement by an individual. Boyd went on to assist 10,000s of other Black and minority farmers to file discrimination complaints, lawsuits and class actions against USDA. Farming is our oldest occupation. In freedom we treasured having land to work for ourselves, our families and racial progress. "Forty acres and a mule," was an embedded aspiration.

KJ "Skippa Mak" Marley, son of Kymani Marley, is an international hip-hop artist infusing reggae and dancehall, while invoking the unmistakable musical spirit of his legendary grandfather Bob Marley to speak Truth to Power.

"I think it's shameful on behalf of white farmers who didn't reach out to me to say they have any sort of issue with this—they went straight to federal court," Boyd said.

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 program represents remedial relief for Black farmers who have had to fight USDA discrimination through the courts to get loans in the first place. "This is not 'reparations' as it's been explained by white farmers, it's not a 'windfall,' it's not a new loan program," he said.

"In 30-plus years of advocacy, I have never seen this level of racial tension in America. As I strive to encourage a new generation, time is against us. It's been white farmers the whole time who have gotten debt relief from USDA, and all of these years it was Black and other Farmers of Color who were not getting it. That's why I went through the courts and Congress to get remedial action. It finally passed under the Covid spending bill," Boyd said.

"I never heard them say it was harmful when they got debt relief," said Boyd. "It's a continuation of what Black farmers have been facing in this country, what you're seeing going on in these courts."

We want our land, we want our money, and we want reparations! Pay US Now!!!

"The Land" featuring John Boyd Jr. and KJ Skippa Mak Marley speaks volumes to the challenges we still face.

The Land on Spotify

The Land on Apple Music

July 7, 2023

Assistance for Producers Who Experienced Discrimination in USDA Farm Loan Programs

Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) provides $2.2 billion in financial assistance for farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA’s farm lending programs prior to January 1, 2021.

The application process is now open! Applications for this program are free, and do NOT require a lawyer. Make sure to:

  • Avoid providing personal or financial information to unknown parties.

  • Beware of solicitations by mail, email, or phone calls from individuals claiming to be connected to USDA. USDA will not solicit you for information. Š

  • Beware of organizations seeking an application fee. If you believe there is an organization conducting a scam related to this process, please contact the USDA Office of the Inspector General (OIG) or any other appropriate authorities. The USDA OIG hotline complaint can be accessed online at https://usdaoig.oversight.gov/ hotline; OIG’s phone number is (800) 424-9121.

Visit www.22007apply.gov for detailed information about application procedures. Visit Am I Eligible? to determine if you are eligible to participate.

  1. Create your Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) Online Account

  • This is the only USDA website to submit an online application. This online resource provides information about eligibility requirements, available assistance, and application forms. Further assistance can be obtained by emailing the National Black Farmers Association at NBFA.Office@gmail.com or by calling the National Call Center at 1-800-721-0970 or emailing info@22007apply.gov.

  • Also, regional offices have been set up around the country so that individuals can visit, get help, and apply in-person; help will also be available at mobile events. Regional resources can be found here

    2. Or, download and print the application

Applications are due October 31, 2023. To ensure timely processing, there will be no extensions to this deadline. Applications are not on a first come, first served basis; all applications received by the deadline will be reviewed and considered. Application submission methods include:  

  • E-Filing by 11:59 p.m. Pacific time October 31, 2023

  • U.S. or overnight mail must be postmarked by October 31, 2023

  • In person, at a regional office by 8 p.m. on October 31, 2023  

  • Do not include original supporting documents with your submission. Your documents will not be returned to you, and may be destroyed after the Program concludes, in accordance with record management requirements. Please send a copy and keep original record for personal record keeping

May 5, 2023

BOYD WILL NOT BE SUPPORTING PRESIDENT BIDEN'S REELECTION CAMPAIGN

Biden Fails to Protect Americans From Farm Foreclosures With Moratorium Amid Calls For USDA Resignations & Congressional Oversight Of IRA Sections 22006 & 22007

President Biden, his team in the White House, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack, USDA Equity Czar Dr. Dewayne Goldman and Deputy Director Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, must take personal responsibility for the debacle that has American Farmers in Farm Foreclosures. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the President’s legacy – and the fate of thousands of Black, Native American and other farmers of color – have been left out of the relief efforts enacted by Congress to save distressed borrowers from farm foreclosure. I have repeatedly urged to no avail President Biden to honor his commitments to us and those thousands of Black, Native American and other farmers of color who are being forced into bankruptcy and foreclosures.

 NBFA National Rally and Press Conference at National Mall on October 12, 2022 with Attorney Ben Crump, NBFA President John Boyd, and AAIF President Kara Boyd (Right to Left).

We will be in Purcell, McClain County, Oklahoma at a Native American Farmer foreclosure hearing on May 10, 2023!

Where will the elected officials be that repealed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), Section 1005, Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color that provided 120% debt relief for this farmer and others? Those who replaced it with IRA Sections 22006. Will the USDA employees charged with advising and implementing these programs at USDA be in court to witness the consequences of their actions or lack there of?

“President Biden must move quickly to protect Black Farmers now that he has repealed promised debt relief for Black farmers provided in the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 because white farmers were claiming reverse discrimination. We have days, not weeks and months, to save many Black, Native American and other farmers of color from ruin. Black farmers are facing record costs for inputs like fuel and fertilizer and soaring land costs while battling droughts and extreme heat. We cannot and will not trust a President who doesn't honor his commitments to have a sit-down meeting with me and breaks his promises during a 40-year record high cost of inputs and food crisis facing America,” stated Boyd in 2022.

Former President Bill Clinton during his administration met with Boyd to hear the concerns of Black and other minority farmers who were experiencing blatant discrimination and took prompt action which saved Boyd's farm from Foreclosure. (https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1997/12/18/minority.farmers/)


John Westley Boyd, Sr.

The passing of John Westley Boyd, Sr., father of Black Farmers President John W. Boyd, Jr.

July 15, 1943 - November 7, 2022


Federal government taken to court for reworking Black farmers debt relief program

Black and minority farmers never benefited from the $4 billion package that was held up in court for more than a year before Congress reworked and broadened it after white farmers balked.

Click Here for NBC News Article

Biden Withdraws Support for Black Farmers.

John Boyd, Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association Releases Official Statement on President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act

August 9, 2022--For Immediate Release

Boydton, VA, - After fighting for debt relief for over 3 decades, Boyd was elated when the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color was passed and signed into law by President Joe Biden last year in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Boyd met with Biden during the SC primaries to discuss the plight of Black Farmers and it was agreed upon that Biden would address Black Farmer issues. Again, last July (2021), Biden reaffirmed to Boyd he would have a face time meeting with him to discuss the ongoing struggles and delay of America’s Black Farmers getting the long sought-after debt relief.

What could be worse than having another President to overturn legislation you enacted to help Black and other Farmers of Color during a pandemic; repealing your own legislation to take it away while they are being served foreclosure notices in a recession with the highest record of input costs in 40 years while sending hundreds of millions in aid to Ukraine farmers.  

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Section 22008 repeals the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 Section 1005 which provided Black, Native and other Farmers of Color debt relief. 

SEC. 22008. REPEAL OF FARM LOAN ASSISTANCE.

    Section 1005 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (7 U.S.C. 1921

note; Public Law 117-2) is repealed.

 “I’m very, very disappointed in this legislative action,” he said in response to reading the final bill passed by the Senate. “I’m prepared to fight for debt relief for Black, Native American and other farmers of color all the way to the Supreme Court. I’m not going to stop fighting this.”

“Discrimination at USDA against Black Farmers was rampant and severe. Section 1005 Loan Repayment program was a necessary step towards fixing those harms. To acknowledge and correct racism is not unconstitutional or racist.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHAjHSstgwk

We call upon our fellow farmers, neighbors and friends to join John Boyd in his call for President Joe Biden to issue a Farm Foreclosure Moratorium to save American Farmers. The Biden Mortgage Moratorium must include foreclosure protection for USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) Farm Ownership Direct and Guaranteed Loans as other Agricultural Loans while legislative remedies are being debated in Congress.

America's Farmers are worth saving!

Donate NOW to support the Association of American Indian Farmers and National Black Farmers Association. We are 501(c)3 nonprofit organizations providing advocacy, outreach and direct technical assistance to Black and other minority as well as small-scale family farmers.

For interviews, please contact John Wesley Boyd, Jr., Founder and President, National Black Farmers Association

JohnWesleyBoydJr@gmail.com

BlackFarmers.org

JohnBoydJr.com

Thu, January 27, 2022, 10:58 AM

BASKERVILLE, Va., Jan. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), today called out PepsiCo for Continued Discrimination after a year and half of ALL talk and NO contract following a verbal commitment.

Boyd Calls Out PEPSICO, ALL Talk and NO Contracts

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
PepsiCo, the giant food and beverage company, seems to value a positive public image less than profitability. Most recently it has added dismissive treatment of Black farmers to a long list of complaints about its negative environmental impacts (deforestation and pesticide use) exploitation of water resources and global plastic pollution, according to a Wikipedia report.

In addition, PepsiCo, which was created in 1965 by Pepsi's merging with the Frito-Lay brand, not only has been repeatedly criticized by environmentalists. Public health advocates have complained about its high-calorie, poor nutrition products along with other snack and drink companies. In 2019, a Johns Hopkins University student group dedicated to food sustainability and human ethics protested the campus dining office's contract with PepsiCo, calling on that unit to reject "socially and ecologically unsustainable practices of profit-hungry corporations."

Yet, the multi-billion-dollar leader in its category seems to regard social responsibility, and health standards and environmental concerns as optional values. It has vowed to uphold commitments to those issues, but has declined to release public information documenting progress on changing company practices. Although Coca-Cola, its main competitor, has bigger sales, PepsiCo within the North American market is the largest food and beverage company by net revenue ($70 Billion income reported in 2020).

NBFA raised concerns over the gargantuan company's failure to contract with members of the NBFA to provide agricultural products that form the foundation of their firm's processes. Only White farmers have been afforded the opportunity to share in PepsiCo's enormous profits. It prefers the superficial responses to public opinion such as changing the brand image of its stereotyped figure Aunt Jemima. PepsiCo immediately reached out to the NBFA on June 19th 2020 in the face of such controversy.

However, as PepsiCo indicated they wanted to do business with NBFA members, the company insisted that our growers share personal information through our national data base. A year and a half later, when NBFA growers met all the required elements for a potato delivery contract, the company's executives apparently had lost interest in keeping its part of the bargain.

In an appalling stunt, PepsiCo executives recently notified the President of the NBFA that it would not be moving forward with any contracts for NBFA members.

"PepsiCo had decided to "move in a new direction" that would not include NBFA black farmer members, we were told.

Our outrage at this kind of bullying discrimination is not just about hurt feelings. Our livelihood and financial stability is at stake when we encounter such blatantly low-level business practices. Some Black farmers have actually lost their farms amid this unethical and inhumane treatment. The NBFA is seeking legal counsel regarding PepsiCo's verbal commitment for a potato contract.

John Boyd, President and Founder, National Black Farmers Association

As a shareholder of the PepsiCo Corporation, I am calling on PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta to meet with NBFA leaders and respond to the hardship and realities his company's latest recent discriminatory act has caused." Boyd's statements follow PepsiCo's announcement that it will no longer use the Aunt Jemima brand, long criticized as a racial stereotype, to sell pancake mix and syrup.

For interviews, please contact John Boyd at Johnwesleyboydjr@gmail.com or at 804-691-8528.

http://blackfarmers.org
http://www.JohnBoydJr.com

View original content: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/boyd-calls-out-pepsico-for-all-talk-and-no-contracts-for-national-black-farmer-members-301469906.html

View original content: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-black-farmers-association-calls-on-pepsico-others-to-do-more-business-with-black-farmers-301080388.html

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boyd-calls-pepsico-talk-no-155800373.html

SOURCE National Black Farmers Association

 

Push for Equality

GMA3: What You Need To Know

PUSH FOR EQUALITY: John Boyd, president and founder of the National Black Farmer’s Association, discusses supply chain issues, the fight for promised aid and federal relief.

 
 

 

Black US Farmers Awaiting Billions in Promised Debt Relief

There was a time when Black farms prospered.

Just two generations out of slavery, by 1910 Black farmers had amassed more than 16 million acres of land and made up about 14 percent of farmers. The fruit of their labors fed much of America.

Now, they have fewer than 4.7 million acres. Black farms in the U.S. plummeted from 925,000 to fewer than 36,000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest farm census. And only about one in 100 farmers is Black.

What happened?

 
JWB.BlackFarmersBill.Rally.jpg

Emergency Relief for Farmers

To defend and assist Black Farmers and other Farmers of Color to participate and gain access to the $5 Billion Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color and other resources and federal programs administered by the United States Department of Agriculture.  The NBFA has retained legal counsel, filed legal briefs and will continue over 30 years of advocacy as we communicate and educate our community through effective outreach and direct technical assistance.

 

State of Black Farmers

Chairman David Scott hosted a hearing with National Black Farmer President John Boyd, Jr. and others on March 25, 2021 at 12 pm.

 
 
 
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ABOUT US

The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) is a non-profit organization representing African American farmers and their families in the United States. As an association, it serves tens of thousands of members nationwide. NBFA's education and advocacy efforts have been focused on civil rights, land retention, access to public and private loans, education and agricultural training, and rural economic development for black and other small farmers. 

“It’s tough for all farmers, but when you throw in discrimination and racism and unfair lending practices, it’s really hard for you to make it.”
- John Boyd, Jr.