By Megan Sayles
AFRO Staff Writer
msayles@afro.com
For John W. Boyd, founder of the National Black Farmers Association, farming isn’t the same as it once was. The change is, in part, because the climate is not as it once was.
A fourth-generation farmer, Boyd took up the family business because he fell in love with the smell of the land and its ability to make him feel liberated. He purchased his first farm in the 1980s at the age of 18 in Baskerville, Va., where he grows soybean, corn and wheat.
Now 59, Boyd is battling the impact of extreme weather and shifting seasons.
“In the 80s, we were planting corn in March. I’m now planting corn in May. I was finished harvesting soybeans in October, and now I’m still harvesting soybeans in January,” said Boyd. “The extreme heat that we have been experiencing has taken a toll on crop yields. Three days of 100-degree temperatures can change your crop overnight as far as yield and production.”
In a typical season, Boyd said he has 30 to 45 days to plant and 30 to 45 days to harvest. Anything that comes after that is late. If Boyd plants late, his yield is jeopardized. If he harvests late, he will lose production.
Lately, both his planting and harvesting seasons have become more unpredictable, and it’s been harder for him to meet the optimal windows.
“The soybeans begin to pop out of the pods, and as my dad would say, ‘Once they hit the ground, they ain’t coming back up,’” said Boyd. “I can’t pick them up off the ground, and there isn’t a piece of machinery that can do that. Once you start losing production like that, you’re losing your bottom line.”
On top of extreme heat, tornadoes and hurricanes are increasingly causing disruptions to his operations.
He noted that farmers carry mortgages and debts, like any other household. Losing a season due to weather can lead to a financial disaster.
“Soybeans are my cash crop. If I mess it up, there isn’t another crop to fix it,” said Boyd. “I have to get it right.”
Boyd’s also been forced to invest in irrigation systems to cope with droughts— a costly and laborious process his predecessors never had to engage in.
“That’s an additional cost, with diesel fuel and pipes, and the pipe is so hot in the mid-Summer. You’re dragging this pipe, then you stick it in your water access, you pump the water and you move the pipe. It doesn’t stop,” said Boyd. “You keep moving the pipe and trying to save your crop. My forefathers never did that.”
Boyd isn’t alone in facing the impacts of climate change. In Pinewood, S.C., Jermaine Walker, a fourth-generation farmer, has seen weather become more devastating and unpredictable.
“The extremities are becoming very intense. When I was a child, we had a rain season, we had Summer and then there was a part of Summer where we had some storms,” said Walker. “As a younger farmer, I could kind of predict the system.”
Walker, 52, has been farming on his own since he was 22, but farming has been a part of his life since he was born. He grows corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton.
This year, he said the growing season has been OK, but unusually heavy rains have created challenges for planting and harvesting.
“These downpours and storms seem to be becoming more violent, and the question in the farming community is, “Hey, do you all remember it being this way when we were younger?,’” said Walker. “The answer is always, ‘No, it was never like this.’”
Too much rain may not seem like a problem for farming, but it can hurt the growth of crops or make it difficult to work the field.
“There are plants with what we call, ‘wet feet,’ that can’t stand to have their roots submerged for so long because they drown. It robs them of oxygen,” said Walker. “Also, the row crop industry is all done mechanically. If it gets too wet, the machines can’t even stand up.”
Walker said he is going to lose some yield on his soybeans because the rain prevented him from spraying herbicides on time. Weeds began competing with his crops for nutrients, and, when he tried to get machinery into the field, it got stuck in the mud.
Policy promises vs. farming realities
Though supporting farmers was central to the 47th president’s campaign platform, Boyd and Walker say the reality on the ground has not aligned with the rhetoric.
“At least once a week, this president is on the news talking about how he’s going to help farmers, and it hasn’t happened. Bankruptcy and suicide are on the rise under the leadership of a president who says he loves farmers,” said Boyd. “He’s not putting anything in place to combat climate change or starting initiatives to help small-scale farmers find their way through the climate hazards that have affected our operations.”
In April, under his leadership, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) canceled a $3-billion program that would have paid farmers to adopt climate-smart practices, helping them to adapt to extreme weather.
Additionally, tariffs on Mexico and China, which are America’s top buyers of corn and soybeans respectively, have driven down crop prices. This means that even when farmers have good yields, it’s difficult to turn a profit.
“I was just meeting with a group of farmers for a Labor Day cookout, and everybody’s excited about their yields in all crops, but the question is, will we get enough money to pay the debt off and make a profit?” said Walker. “The prices that we’re getting today for corn are prices that were posted in the 1960s and 70s. Although production has gone up, expenses have gone up with it, and the price for your product is down.”
Both Boyd and Walker noted that Black farmers are accustomed to facing obstacles that often seem insurmountable. From loan denials at the USDA, to limited access to resources and markets, they’ve long had to get creative in sustaining their farms and their livelihoods.
Even so, the pair fear that Black farmers are at risk of extinction. They stressed the importance of the Black community coming together to support Black farmers during these uncertain times.
“Just because this administration doesn’t want you, don’t give up. We have to band together, and, for the first time in a long time, find each other and start supporting each other,” said Boyd. “Black America needs to start supporting Black farmers.”
