“They broke their promise to Black farmers and other farmers of color,” John Boyd, a plaintiff and the president of the National Black Farmers Association, told NBC News on Wednesday just before he held a press conference on the matter.
John Boyd, president of the Black Farmers Association, plants winter wheat in one of his fields in Baskerville, Va., on Jan. 8, 2019.
The $4 billion was never delivered to Black farmers and other people of color, however.
The new legislation aims to circumvent white farmers’ grievances and create two new funds while nixing the initial relief program.
In 1920, there were more than 925,000 Black farmers in the U.S., making up about 14% of the farmer population, according to data analysis by the consulting firm McKinsey.