Racism doesn’t just impact our food system in the U.S. — our entire food economy was designed to perpetuate racial inequities, and continues to do so. Even though our food system was built through the labor of enslaved Black people on land stolen from Indigenous people groups, white Americans have always been — and continue to be — more likely to own land and to benefit from the wealth that land generates.
There is a long legacy of unfair laws that have prohibited non-white people from owning land. According to the USDA 2012 Census of Agriculture, of the 2.1 million farmers in the U.S., only 8% are farmers of color and only half of that 8% own land. As Leah Penniman of Soul Fire Farm pointed out in a Civil Eats article from 2018, “If African-American people [had been] paid $20 per week for our agricultural labor rather than being enslaved, we would have trillions in the bank today.”
Most U.S. farm-workers and food production workers are people of color; the average hourly pay for the people who physically grow and harvest a majority of our food in the U.S. is below $12/hr. Poverty leads to food insecurity, which is tied to a whole host of health disparities and chronic diseases. Ironically, a majority of those who work directly with food in the fields or in restaurants also experience some of the highest rates of food insecurity.
Our team has been learning together about the history and present day issues of racism within our country’s food system. We are also looking for tangible ways we can support Black farmers and other farmers of color, and organizations that champion a just and equitable food system.
It is a drop in the bucket of actions we still need to take, and learning that we still want and need to do, but proceeds from this week’s LCSG Produce Sale will go to the Black Food Sovereignty Council & Coalition.
From their donation page: “The Black Food Sovereignty Coalition (BFSC) serves as a collaboration hub for Black and Brown communities to confront the systemic barriers that make food, place, and economic opportunities inaccessible to us.” One of their projects is ‘Grandma’s Hands’, and it “seeks to pass on Black cultural food traditions to the next generation”. Please read more about BFSC’s work by visiting their website, and if you are able please give: https://blackfoodnw.org/donate/
Would you like to do more learning on this subject, or find more Black-led food organizations in the U.S. to support? Check out these articles from Civil Eats: