City Farming

Folks are realizing the value of raising their own. From country cousins to city cousins, there is apparently a move afoot to get back to our roots in terms of eating what we grow.

Some folks are using small parcels of land to produce food for locals.

Read what is going on in Atlanta.

Take a look at this video:



I especially like the idea of having to go back in order to go forward.

Anybody else doing this sort of thing in your city or town?

A Very Brief Overview, One Farmer Mississippi

God of Our Weary Years (1921)

This poem from James Weldon Johnson's pen should have a familiar ring to it.

God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way.

Thou who wast by Thy might
Led us into the light,
Keep us forever in the path, we pray;

Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee,
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee.

Shadowed beneath Thy hand,
May we forever stand
True to our God, true to our native land!

From Conversations with God: Two Centuries of Prayers by African Americans, by James Melvin Washington, Ph.D.

An important update

There is an important update on our efforts to save the Grant family farm.

Please check out this link to read up on it. I'd also encourage you to join the cause. It's a noble effort for a family that has poured out its life for what is righteous.

Here is the link: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/268646/20447472?m=6d54c0aa

Also, you can catch up at: http://www.grantfamilyfarm.blogspot.com/.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks, Mr. President, for Stepping Up!

Here is a memo that is worth reading. Vilsack is outlining his plan to clean up the USDA, a noble goal and a monumental task. This is likely laborious read, or it may simply make for a skim read.
You can find the full text of Vilsack's memo here.

Here's the full text of an announcement that is widely circulating. It's worth a full read as President Obama and Secretary Vilsack are quoted. This one is lifted from Southwest Farm Press.

Funding for black farmers suit

May 8, 2009 10:46 AM

The Obama administration’s fiscal year 2010 budget proposal will include funds to provide a final settlement for the lawsuit that alleged discrimination against minority farmers in USDA’s farm programs.

“I’m pleased that we are now able to close this chapter in the agency's history and move on,” President Obama said in a statement. "My hope is the farmers and their families who were denied access to USDA loans and programs will be made whole and will have the chance to rebuild their lives and their businesses.”

“I am very pleased that President Obama is taking swift action on this matter as it will help us chart a new course at USDA, one on which all USDA customers and employees are treated equally and fairly,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

In 1999, USDA entered into a consent agreement with black farmers in which the agency agreed to pay for past discrimination in lending and other USDA programs. Thousands of claims have been adjudicated, but other claims were not considered on their merits because problems with the notification and claims process hindered some farmers’ ability to participate. To deal with the remaining claims, Congress provided these farmers another avenue for restitution in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008.

For those who have claims that were not considered on the merits because the claim was found not to be timely, the 2008 farm bill provided the right to file a new claim in federal court. The total amount offered by the federal government, $1.25 billion, includes $100 million that served as a “place holder” in Section 14012 of the Farm Bill.

The announcement comes on the heels of a memorandum released two weeks ago by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack detailing an aggressive plan to promote civil rights and equal access at USDA. The memo announced the following:

The temporary suspension of all foreclosures within the Farm Service Agency's farm loan program, which will not only aid farmers facing economic hardship but will also provide the opportunity to review the loan granting process for possible discriminatory conduct;

The creation of a Task force to conduct a review of a sample of program civil rights complaints that have been processed or that are currently being processed - the complaints and inquiries total over 14,000, including over 3,000 that have not been processed;

Granting greater authority to USDA's Office of Civil Rights.

The Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights will collaborate with the other agencies to develop and implement a proposal for data collection across USDA, make sure all complaints are incorporated as part of one data system; and develop USDA policy and training to ensure that all complaints are received and dealt with in a consistent manner within a specific time frame.

Deeply Moved

I am deeply moved that people around the country are following the words on these pages. Thanks to all of you for your interest and concern for African American farmers of our land.

Information about President Obama's commitment to addressing the injustices will be forthcoming.

Thanks, friends, for caring about justice.

Dr. Leonard is Coming to Town, no Coming to the Country

Dr. Leonard, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights for the United States Department of Agriculture, is coming to Tillery, NC this afternoon. This is no small gesture, I hope and pray, on behalf of the Obama administration and USDA Agriculture Secretary Vilsack in particular.

His participation in the meeting sends a signal that the administration will live up to its promises of making wrongs right in the egregious acts of discrimination perpetrated on Black farmers, and other minority and women farmers of our land.

I have heard their stories. They are convincing. I am thinking of a Black farmer in Texas who was denied access to Pigford on a technicality. And then, there's an entire county just south of Birmingham which did not receive the information about the Pigford case. How did this happen? Frankly, it beats me, but when public figures affirm that that is the case, and when there is an entire set of Black farmers who never read various and sundry publications, nor heard CNN, or other media outlets advertise as to the case, then I'm convinced.

You have read on these pages and other outlets over the last few years as to the nature of the offenses: lost applications, stymied at even the application process, too little funding too late, crop failure, no disaster relief for Blacks while the Whites are offered disaster relief, no extension of credit to the Blacks while offered to the Whites, foreclosures, foreclosures, and more foreclosures despite a moratorium on foreclosures. Sale of property not their own for pennies on the dollar. And the list could go on and on.

In the words of a friend of mine from Tennessee, "That can't happen in America." Yes, that can happen in America. It has been happening all across the country. The people's department has become the department of the big and the rich.

Obama's 2010 budget includes a large sum of money to address these grievances. I don't think it'll be enough. Another contribution that the system at the USDA could make is firing those who discriminate against anyone. Why should someone stay in a position paid for by tax payer dollars when discrimination is evident. I'm with former congressman from Texas Charlie Stenholm, when he said on the record that they should be fired.

So, welcome to Tillery, Dr. Leonard. I am sorry that I'm not there to meet you. I care about these people and this movement. It is a blight on the conscience of the American people. It is a burdent on my soul. Until this issue is address, we will wear the stains of guilt and shame as a people for what some of our citizens and employees have done to other citizens of our country. I trust, Dr. Leonard, that there is indeed a new day dawning.

I am praying this afternoon, Dr. Leonard, that you will have eyes to see and hears to hear, and that your head and your heart, that your administrative and decision-making skills will be moved to action. I am also praying today for Gary and for Spencer, and for other members of the BFAA organization, and I'm praying for farmers who will stand before you, Dr. Leonard, and tell their stories. May you be moved, sir, at what you will see and hear.

And I pray to the Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, that this period of shame and degradation of our people will end, that justice will prevail.

Your job is clear, Dr. Leonard. I'm praying that you are up to the challenge. It is big, and I believe that you are.