Farms to Grow helps Black farmers build wealth in a multi-billion dollar industry
OAKLAND -- Visiting the Freedom Farmers Market in Oakland is a must for any serious foodie. You can find Will Scott selling his fresh produce there most Saturdays. He's part of a movement, here in California and across the nation, to get a generation to go back to the land and reclaim a heritage born from the dust.
Scott and his brother Melvin were delivering fresh picked vegetables from the Scott Family Farm to a church in Oakland. The rain was coming down, but that never stopped him. He says rain is a blessing. Scott is proud of his produce. One might call it a labor of love.
A woman rolls up with a dolly to gather the crates and boxes.
"Look at this," she said, gesturing to a box of bright green cabbage. "It's beautiful."
She rolls the boxes full of vegetables into the church where they will be sorted into bags and either picked up or delivered direct to consumers.
Scott is one of a growing number of black California farmers who work with Farms to Grow, a nonprofit whose mission is to assist African American farmers and motivate the next generation to go back to their roots -- the land.
Elaine Smith is the organization's executive director.
"Often times farmers say we grow great food but we cannot find a market," said Smith.
Farms To Grow is connecting consumers and growers so quality produce goes directly from the farm to the table. Scott drove more than three hours to get to Oakland that soggy Saturday morning, but his days always begin at the crack of dawn.
"Usually about 6 a.m.," says Scott.
He cultivates more than 40 acres of land near Fresno and is president and founder of African American Farmers of California.
"Young people don't want to get in farming because of the association with slavery," said Scott. "But agriculture is a multi-billion-dollar industry."
As profitable as it may be, he says Blacks are being shut out.
According to the USDA, in 1920 there were close to a million black owned farms in America, about 14 percent. But by 2017, there were fewer than 50,000, down to only 1.4 percent, with fewer than 500 black farms in California, according to the report.
In 2017, black farmers got $59 million in subsidies. Compare that to $8.8 billion for white farms, according to the census.
That's where Farms to Grow comes in. The nonprofit provides distribution, training and education.
"Also, being able to realize the American dream," adds Scott. "To be able to own your land so you can produce food for your fellow man."
Thanks to Farms to Grow, Scott and other large Black growers will be supplying produce to Stanford University. Soon, he'll install high tunnels and cold storage to increase production.
That's a far cry from his beginnings, sharecropping the land in Oklahoma with his dad and 15 brothers and sisters.
"My dad said, 'If you don't work, you don't eat.' So I worked," chuckled Scott, looking out across acres and acres of land he and his family owns.
His dad also told him to get off the farm, go to college and get a good job. He did, but the land called him back.
"Sometimes when the DNA is within your system you come back to it," he says.
There is a multi-billion-dollar bill in Congress that could provide debt relief, grants and more known as the Justice for Black Farmers Act. Unfortunately, it is tied up in lawsuits. But Scott is undaunted. Anyway, he says he's not asking for a handout.
"If you give me a handout and you walk away, I'm still down, I need another handout," he says. "But if you give me a hand up, you walk away and look back, I'm standing up and I'm able to not only help myself, but I can help other people."
To learn more about Farms To Grow, you can visit their website. There you'll find dates for the Freedom Farmers Market. While you're there, you can buy a bag of Mr. Scott's delicious produce – fresh from the farm.