Delaware State University host 2nd annual BIPOC Farmers Conference

Representation in Agriculture

DOVER, Del. – This week Delaware State University held its Black Indigenous People of Color Farmer’s Conference for the 2nd year in a row.

Decline

Black Farmers have gone from 17% to 0.3 % in the last decade according to Dean Cherese Winstead of the College of Agriculture, Science and Technology. “Well agriculture is important, and at Delaware State University, they believe having diversity amongst farmers is important as well… There’s just not enough students to fill the need of tomorrow’s economy when it comes to societal and global needs in agriculture.”

Dean Winstead says that over the years, Black families have struggled with keeping land in their linage, and this hurts the community’s generational wealth. But those aren’t the only reasons. “Our Black farmers have faced discriminatory practices in the past, with just actually getting access to loans to help support their farming operations… Black farmers, which outside of just the number of Black farmers, the amount of land has been reduced by hundreds of thousands of acres.”

Discrimination

4th Generation farmer Chester Scott Jr. of Scott Farms says with 60 years of experience he knows all too well about discrimination. “The white farmer have the advantage, they come out the starting blocks with a whole lot of money, and the black farmer start off with no money. So for us to catch up grants and loans have to be made available… In schools, they promote the FA’s to white students, it’s not being promoted. to the black students.”

Dean Winstead also agrees that representation starts in the classroom. We talk about the reduction of African American Farmers, but there is also a subsequent decline in the number of students that are pursuing Agriculture and Environmental sciences. This is a global problem but it’s one that really hits home to the African American community.

Diversity 

Winstead says with students like Biology major Lebene Ashina, there is still hope for the future of farming. “Because the world is advancing in regards to technology, some people kind-of forget about the roots. Agriculture is very important. We need it for stuff like soil, trees, food, and everything else. I think students should continue to do the necessary research so they can find out why it’s essential to them, and why it’s important to get people who look like us in the field.”

Last year, the event was called the Black Farmers Conference, because they wanted to put the focus specifically on the African American Community. DSU officials say that since these disparities in farming affect all people of color, they decided to change the name to be more inclusive. The University says they offer a variety of programs in agriculture, if you’re interested in learning more, visit their website.