Phenomenal study on the effects of racism analyzed profiles of North American agricultural landowners from 1922 to 1997
Black farmers in the United States lost about $326 billion in arable land during the 20th century, according to a study published Sunday (May 1, 2022) by the annual print magazine. documents and proceedingsgives American Economic Association,
The publication by author Dania Francis, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, is unprecedented in the study of the financial impact of racism in the US in relation to agricultural assets.
“Wealth and land in this country is a way to increase opportunities for your family. […], This speaks of the inter-generational wealth gap partially opening up on account of such land loss.Francis wrote.
The study considered the sum of the decreased value of the area cultivated by black farmers in 17 states between 1922 and 1997, who recorded the owner’s profile over the years. Inflation adjustment indicates that land acquisitions resulted in losses equivalent to US$326 billion, an estimate considered conservative by the study’s authors.
Findings showed that the vast majority of land loss was accelerated by discriminatory lending practices USDA (US Department of Agriculture) and the forced sale of property.
according to the survey of ReutersAfrican-American farmers owned more than 16 million acres in 1910. In the last 2017 agricultural census, that number dropped to 4.7 million acres, or 0.5% of all agricultural land in the United States. ,
