In a time of supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, and increasing prices, food security in the United States is more critical than ever. Black Farmers Index is a list of Black farmers and growers across the country. It began as a solutions-based journalism project by Ark Republic in April 2020, in the form of a list of Black farmers that could address not only food insecurity but also food system failures and inequities in agriculture during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ark Republic began the project with two urgent questions: “Who will be affected first during a food shortage? And how can we be a part of the solution?” Their answers became a part of their mission. In a statement on their website, they said: “Because so many Black people live in food deserts and food swamps, as a result of being forced out of the agrarian lifestyle, the answer was sobering. The remedy was to ask those in our communities who are closest to food: Black farmers.”
The project developed into what is now known as the Black Farmers Index. It was built on four pillars: “1. Increase marketing towards the Black AG ecosystem that includes growers, ranchers, fisherfolk, beekeepers, foragers, and foresters; 2. Collect, assess, and distribute more accurate information on Black growers; 3. Provide resources on pathways for harvesters’ access to capital; and 4. Advocate and inform Black agriculturalists on how to acquire farmland.”
The Black Farmers Index is the largest free guide to Black American agriculturists — and it is delightfully easy to use. Select from 12 regions (which includes a small international section). Kentucky is in Region 3. From the region, click on a state. There are 30 growers in Kentucky. Among these 30 entries, users can locate a specific grower from an alphabetical list. Two of the growers on the list are based in Louisville: Kentucky Greens Co. grows and sells greens, microgreens, and watermelons using hydroponic methods. Gemway Farms harvests and sells seasonal produce and also provides consultations.
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How The Soil Of Freedom Was Eroded
Every English speaker in the U.S. is familiar with the phrase “40 acres and a mule” (at the very least, it is known for being the name of Spike Lee’s film production company). A promise made to approximately 3.9 million formerly enslaved people was broken before it could be actualized.
Those of us fortunate enough to be taught Black history were probably taught that the source of the “40 acres and a mule” policy was Union General William T. Sherman in Special Field Order 15, issued in January 1865. But an overlooked detail of this policy and its promise is that the initial idea for land redistribution grew out of a discussion that Sherman and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton had with 20 leaders from the Black community. The historic meeting took place on the second floor of Charles Green’s mansion on Macon Street in Savannah, Georgia. Of these 20 leaders—all of whom were ministers—11 of them had been born free in states that allowed slavery (and 10 of whom had lived as free men, even in the Confederacy). The other nine had been enslaved themselves.
Order 15 redistributed 400,000 acres of land, “a strip of coastline stretching from Charleston, South Carolina, to the St. John’s River in Florida, including Georgia’s Sea Islands and the mainland thirty miles in from the coast,” to recently freed Black people. This acreage was “reserved and set apart for the settlement” of free Black people where “no white person whatever, unless military officers and soldiers detailed for duty, will be permitted to reside” because “the sole and exclusive management of affairs will be left to the freed people themselves.”
By June of 1865, 40,000 formerly enslaved people had settled on 400,000 acres of so-called “Sherman Land.” In addition to this redistribution of land, Sherman ordered that the U.S. military could lend mules to settlers, and that became the source of the phrase “40 acres and a mule.”
In an aggressively regressive move, Andrew Johnson—Abraham Lincoln’s vice president, who assumed the presidency after Lincoln’s assassination—overturned Order 15 before the end of 1865. The promise to Black Americans was broken.
In spite of this structural inequity, by 1910, Black farmers owned almost 16 million acres of farmland, according to a report published by the USDA in 2002. While that number might seem large, that acreage comprised only 1.8 percent of farmland in the U.S. at the time. Black farmers own even less farmland in the 21st century: only 2.9 million acres, or 0.32 percent of farmland in the U.S., according to the USDA’s 2017 census.
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During the COVID-19 pandemic, farmers who had been subsidized by the USDA were forced to destroy crops and euthanize livestock, which resulted in food supply chain disruptions. Black farmers who remained independent of the USDA were viable contributors to the food supply chain yet Ark Republic identified that “many Black… lacked the exposure and presence in markets to sell or distribute their food” and were consequently “left out of solving the emerging food crisis.” This is where the Black Farmers Index planted its seeds.
Over the course of five years, the index has grown to “expanding the directory; highlighting Black agriculturalists; bringing business to Index members; providing information to farmers; educating farmers and the public; hosting events connecting growers to consumers; and researching and writing reports on Black farmers.”
In addition to the information it already provides to buyers, the index is an ever-developing directory that can be added to at any time. Follow Black Farmers Index on Instagram for updates and become a part of the cultivation.
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This article appears in Feb 14-27, 2025.