Black Farmer Fund Raises $11M In Funding To Support Black Agricultural Systems In The Northeast

According to its website, Black Farmer Fund was created by Karen Washington and Olivia Watkins after they spoke with Black farmers who expressed a desire for capital but had faced discriminatory lending practices.

They are bridging the gap through their mission centered on wealth building for Black food business owners.

This is timely as Black farm ownership declined from 15 million acres in 1920 to 1 million acres by 2017, according to Ceres Trust.

Additionally, Black farmers only accounted for 0.87% of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) lending from 2001 to 2008. These statistics declined further in 2009 and 2016, as they would only account for 0.80% of USDA lending, per The Counter.