‘Make Farmers Black Again’: African Americans Fight Discrimination To Own Farmland

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Daryl Minton, 45, throws chicken feed into a yard where the chickens roam at the Triple J Farm in Windsor, N.Y. Minton lives and works on the farm his grandfather, James Minton, bought it a decade ago. Between lending discrimination and rising costs, many obstacles stand in the way of Black Americans looking to own farmland.

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James Minton, 85, bought the 20-acre parcel that became Triple J Farm a decade ago because he said he wanted a place his family could find refuge, whenever they might need. In all, Minton has seven children, 28 grandchildren, 40 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

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Kwanasia Ginyard (left), Gianna Bridges, Kamani Minton, Shevin Fanklin, Jr., and Micaela Johnson play in their great-grandfather’s yard during his 85th birthday celebration.

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Daryl Minton moved upstate to help manage the farm last summer. He lived on a farm for part of his childhood and studied permaculture after retiring from the military.

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Barriers to accessing funding and land persist

There is a growing movement of young farmers led by people of color in the Northeast, but barriers to accessing funding and land persist. Black farmers have historically faced race-based lending discrimination when applying for loans from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), which often denied loan applications from Black farmers, delayed the loan process or allotted them insufficient funds. This systemic discrimination was the subject of the 1999 class-action lawsuit Pigford v. Glickman, which resulted in a $1.25 billion settlement to Black farmers.

According to Olivia Watkins of the Black Farmer Fund, this discrimination is ongoing.

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Chickens (left) gather around a feeder inside the trailer turned chicken coop. Daryl Minton holds eggs collected at one of the coops. The farm now sells close to 200 dozen eggs each week.

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Members of James Minton’s family help deliver a package of chicken bedding to the coops at the Triple J Farm.

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Jarrad Nwameme, 32, is another one of Minton’s grandsons who coordinates logistics for Triple J Farm, delivering eggs to customers in New York City and running social media.

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Barns at the Triple J Farm in Windsor, N.Y. Black people remain underrepresented in agriculture. Black Americans own just 1% of rural land nationwide. While 13.4% of the country’s population is Black or African American, Black farmers make up 1.34% of all farm producers.

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James and Wilhelmina Minton have been married for over 60 years. When he retired, they packed up their Harlem apartment where they lived for 40 years and moved upstate.

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Maribel is the lone cow living at the Triple J Farm, for now. Daryl said they hope to start raising goats, at the request of their Caribbean customers, and even cows in the coming months.

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James Minton blows out the candles of his birthday cake while celebrating his 85th birthday at his home in Windsor. For him, seeing members of each generation come together to keep the farm business going means he’s done his day’s work.

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James Minton blows out the candles of his birthday cake while celebrating his 85th birthday at his home in Windsor. For him, seeing members of each generation come together to keep the farm business going means he’s done his day’s work.

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• new york restoration project
• black farmer fund
• triple j farm
• black farmers
• farmers