Black farmers are still Black farmers, yet now are considered a part of minority or small or limited resource farmers/ranchers (SLRF/R) by the Department of Agriculture. Except for a few Southern states, their numbers have fallen from a remnant to a fragment in recent years. They continue to leave agriculture at a faster rate than whites. What few programs the Department has for this category of producers (SLRF/R) show genuine promise, provided they are pursued diligently by the Congress and the (...) Department. Also vigorous enforcement of civil rights laws and directives of the Secretary and the new initiatives by the Office of Civil Rights Enforcement (OCRE) have to be sustained. (shrink)

The shared hopes of farm ownership in America motivated many Black farmers and educators during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Although an independent Black yeomanry was not to be, and a host of factors have combined to remove Black Americans from farming, the quest has not been a vain one. Black land-grant institutions continue to redefine their mission in a changing world and in the process maintain their relevancy.