Black Hemp Farmers and the Agricultural Divide

Today, according to the USDA NASS, 2012 Census of Agriculture Texas has more black farmers than any other state, but they make up only 3 percent of the state’s total farmers. Black Farmers across the USA, make up a larger share of total farmers in Mississippi (12%), Louisiana (7%), South Carolina (7%), Alabama (6%), and Georgia (4%).

Fort Valley State University, and FAMU in Florida, is one of the historical black colleges & universities designated in “Georgia’s Hope Act” (HB 324) to conduct research with industrial hemp. The “Georgia Hemp Farming Act” (HB 213) encourages exploration and academic research by the universities into the growth, processing, uses and development of varieties of hemp.

FVSU in collaboration with several HBCUs (and Minorities for Medical Marijuana) throughout the southeast plan to develop the infrastructure for an industrial hemp and medical cannabis research program consisting of, though not limited to, the following:

• Demonstration plots to determine the types of hemp that are best suited to grow in Georgia and Florida.
• Tests of growth and seed characteristics,
• Processing of hemp products, supply chain and marketing, and
• Genetics and plant ultrastructure studies on the strains and varieties of hemp.

The overall goal is to establish best agricultural practices for the growth of industrial hemp and medical cannabis-based economies in Georgia, specifically middle Georgia. FVSU plans to disseminate research to farmers and other constituencies as part of its education mission.

A small fraction of the country’s hemp farmers is Black. One family in Missouri is trying to establish the state’s first Black-owned industrial hemp site that could open doors for other Black hemp farmers across the country.