It was happening then and is happening now

In 1973 Robert Browne compiled a massive amount of data as part of a project funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund in conjunction with the Black Economic Research Center. At that time, he wrote that black land loss "continued unabated," noting the decline of black owned farm land from 12 million acres in 1950 to "only six million acres" in 1969. He suggested that land owners were not those who migrated north.

The leading causes for black land loss in 1973? He pointed to tax sales, partition sales, and foreclosures.

He summed up the land loss issue by saying, "In effect, land ownership in the rural South confers on blacks a measure of independence, of security and dignity and perhaps even of power, which is of crucial importance to the elevation of the status of the black community generally” (p. 25).

Writing 35 years ago, he suggested five ingredients for success for black farmers: land, experienced labor, managerial expertise, operating capital or equipment, and credit (at reasonable rates). Part of the solution he proposed involved preventing further loss, developing technical resources, and developing new approaches to achieve success.

Much of what he had to say sounded like it could have been written yesterday.

Much that could lead to the successes of black farmers is less about skills and more about access to land, credit, and other available options which are open to all farmers.

There are a few groups committed to stopping land loss. Try this one, this one, and this one.

It's a serious problem. It needs to be fixed. That'll take the policy makers and the policy implementers, but it'll also take folks like you and me who can stir the pot with those who have the power to make substantive changes.