Black Farmers Rally For Discrimination Settlement

NPR ^ | February 15, 2010 | Julie Rose

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Another similar article. It’s a Free For All!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2445687/posts

[mountn man]

Vern Switzer is 63 years old, but he still single-handedly farms 19 acres of land.

Whats he using, a hoe and rake.

[2banana]

Can’t be a successful farmer without government money.

[Rebelbase]

I wonder if this farmer missed out or got a piece of the Tobacco settlement?

[camle]

guy’s got all of 19 acres, eh? he’s a farmer all right...

[red tie]

IVern Switzer is 63 years old, but he still single-handedly farms 19 acres of land. Whats he using, a hoe and rake?

My thoughts exactly. Other than tobacco or veggies for a country stand how could this be viable as a farm that would support anyone?

[mountn man]

A buddy of mine had a place in the country he called "a farm."

5 acres, with a barn and a couple of small buildings, and an old farm house. His land was surrounded by a neighbors corn field.

I guess you could call it a farm. He did have 2 dozen chickens and a garden....
a 50 foot by 6 foot garden.

I asked why it was only 6 foot wide? He said that way he and his family could just stand on the grass and grab what they wanted.

When he bought the place, he went out and bought a 1950's tractor...
I guess to plow and cultivate his "garden"

[MsLady]

I'm really really really sick of this. I demand that everyone wanting this free hand out to people who were never slaves. To one, prove that there ancestors were slaves and two prove that they didn't already get reparations when in 1865 10,000 slaves got 40 acres and a mule.

And then go see this: Link to Zo

[Rebelbase]

I know a guy who has 2 acres and raises $50K+ of tobacco every year on leased land.

Of course he as a side biz but calls himself a farmer.

[capt. norm]

Waiting for some “Obama Money”.

[rightly_dividing]

I know a guy who has 2 acres and raises $50K+ of tobacco every year on leased land.

No wonder there is small patch of tobacco growing on everyones property in rural N.C.

[blam]

"He said that way he and his family could just stand on the grass and grab what they wanted."

That's a good idea...I may try that.

[TheBattman]

This is why you cannot get any more young black farmers in it, because they see the struggle that the older black farmers got

Wrong - but typical for a race-reliant leech. The total number of farmers, period, is declining. Farmers in general are calling it quits. Their land is getting snapped up by bigger farms. Here in Arkansas - there essentially is no such thing as a 19 acre farm any more. That is not much more than a garden. More typical is the 1000-4000 acre farm. Corporate farms. I remember when that decision was handed down - and in reading all that I could find, I just couldn't wrap my mind around the charge of discrimination. Many of the accusations of unfair treatment were also experienced by white farmers as well. At the time, I saw this as an experimental trail balloon for some form of reparations. I still hold the same opinion. But if someone could show me some truly compelling evidence that black farmers were singularly and specifically targeted with extremely unfair practices based only on their race, then I would be more than happy to take an honest look at it. So - back to the partial quote above - it is hard to get young people interested in farming period - white or black. Farming, in part due to the heavy government hand (money doesn't come without strings, regulations, control, and insane paperwork), has become an extremely complicated endeavor. One has to truly love farming to even think about getting into it.

[fireman15]

[fireman15]

My dad still has 40 acres and a couple dozen cows and horses. I grew up with assorted farm animals. Some years we planted “crops”. We also had a pretty good sized garden. My dad always calls himself a hobby farmer because the property taxes have always been more than what he makes. If he was black maybe he could get a share of that billion dollars.

[Altura Ct.]

Maybe they should trying farming in Zimbabwe?

[wardaddy]

Hope he's growing pot or he ain't making much money on just 19 acres

or tobacco allotments

[camle]

teh government couldpay ME not to grow anything on my land...;-)

[ImpBill]

I don’t care what the color of the skin is, the fact is simply that if you don’t farm thousands of acres these days, you aren’t going to survive. Government programs have made that the fact of the land and it has been so for decades now.