Land Loss Fund
Working Together to Preserve African-American Land Ownership
About the Land Loss Fund
The Land Loss Fund (LLF) is a grassroots, educational and charitable organization seeking to improve the social, educational and economic welfare of the people whose lives are being affected by the continued loss of family owned land especially in rural African-American communities. LLF is a racially mixed group composed of farmers, educators, social workers, businesspersons, and other interested individuals who organized themselves in March of 1983. The Fund provides educational, organizing, networking, research, and other technical assistance to small economically disadvantaged land owners in rural North Carolina counties in the effort to keep the land in the hands of the Black community.
LLF was founded in Tillery, North Carolina, a community which benefited from FDR's "40 Acres and a Mule" New Deal Resettlement Program in the 1930s and 1940s. This program enabled a large number of African-Americans to become landowners in the area.
What is the Problem?
Land Loss Facts
In 1920, 1 in every 7 farmers was Black.
In 1982, 1 in every 67 farmers was Black.
In 1910, Black farmers owned 15.6 million acres of farm land nationally.
In 1982, Black farmers owned 3.1 million acres of farm land nationally.
In 1950, Black farmers in North Carolina owned 1/2 million acres.
In 1982, Black farmers in North Carolina owned only 40,000 acres.
In 1920, there were 926,000 farms operated by Blacks in the United States.
In 1982, the total number of Black farms had dropped to 33,000 and is steadily declining.
In 1984 and 1985, the USDA lent $1.3 billion to farmers nationwide to buy land. Of the almost 16,000 farmers who received those funds, only 209 were Black.
Almost half of all Black-operated farms are smaller than 50 acres.
In the late 1980s, there were less than 200 African-American farmers in the United States under the age of 25.
Why is Land Being Lost?
Several factors contribute to the loss of Black-owned land. Among them are: Farmers Home Administration and other lending institutions' failure to provide farmers the proper and adequate assistance they were supposed to give.
Failure on the part of Black landowners to make wills that would secure heir property for future generations. When many heirs share one piece of land, but no one knows which portion belongs to them because there has not been a will made out, the land is easily lost to the tax office or the real estate speculator.
Failure of heirs to pay taxes on family-owned land.
Discriminatory practices by both public and private lending institutions toward African-American land owners. In 1982, African-Americans received only 1% of all farm ownership loans, only 2.5% of all farm operating loans, and only 1% of all soil and water conservation loans. Despite some new regulations by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) meant to offset historically discriminatory lending practices, Black farmers are still not getting adequate funding.
Inadequate technical, marketing and research assistance from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Less than 5% of the research funds spent by Land Grant colleges and Extension Programs are directed toward problems of limited resource farmers.
Lack of access to land. Existing African-American farmers cannot get adequate or timely funding to expand their operations and young Blacks are unable to secure funding to purchase new farms.
Lack of knowledge of legal rights as landowners. Most rural African-American farmers do not have access to essential legal assistance and thus fall prey to land speculators and unscrupulous lawyers.
What Does the Land Loss Fund Do?
The Fund is working with farm groups and individual farmers, landowners and homeowners in eastern North Carolina to identify their problems and find possible solutions. LLF provides educational resources, as well as technical assistance in management and financial record keeping. LLF also provides moral support to farmers and land-owners as they confront their legal battles, while helping to gather documentation and writing letters on their behalf. LLF pursues other strategies for economic survival such as:
Locating legal options and assistance
Developing plans for diversification
Developing new management procedures
Assisting with organizing coops
Continuing education of grassroots groups
Networking with other farmers
Planning workshops and conferences at both the local and national level.
How Does the Land Loss Fund Survive?
The Fund is able to continue its support of Black landowners through efforts of volunteers in the area who give of their time and expertise by:
Offering their skills to farmers, landowners and homeowners
Seeking grants to help cover administrative costs
Holding fund raisers to put money in the treasury to make loans to farmers, landowners and homeowners
Sponsored a Ms. Black Earth Pageant
Seeking tax deductible contributions from the general public to assist the legal and economic struggles of farmers, landowners and homeowners.
What Can You Do?
African Americans are still losing land at an alarming rate. There continues to be many more black farmers put out of business, as well as Black families evicted from land and homes that will never be regained by Black people.
Your contribution will support these families' struggles, and you can rest better knowing that you have helped sustain an essential base of independence in rural African-American communities.
Send your contribution today to:
CCT's Land Loss Fund
P.O. Box 61
Tillery, NC 27887
Links
Black Farmers & Agriculturalists Association (BFAA)
Black Family Land Trust
