Black Farmers: Why Such a Severe and Continuing Decline?

This is a revised version of a talk given at a Black History Month program, sponsored by the Farmers Home Administration. Beale sees the precipitous drop in the number of black farmers since the 1950's as stemming from both implacable circumstances and subsequent rational economic choices by the black farm population. He notes steps taken by Congress in 1987 to foster farmland acquisition by blacks (and other minorities). Beale then concludes by reminding us that black farmers, like other farmers, form just one part of rural society, and efforts to deal with their problems must also take account of the rest of the rural economy.-Ed.