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THESE SMALL BLACK-OWNED FARMS ARE GROWING CROPS WITH THE CLIMATE IN MIND

By Danny McArthur
Published September 12, 2024 at 5:00 AM CDT
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Leslie Gamboni
Hilery Gobert and his livestock guardian dog, Bella, at Driftwood Farm in Iowa,
Louisiana. Bella protects the farm's animals from predators like coyotes.

Climate change is affecting our food, and our food is affecting the climate. NPR
is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for
solutions.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



A number of small Black-owned farms in the Gulf South are growing crops with the
climate in mind. Hilery Gobert is among them. He owns a 65-acre farm in Iowa,
La., that he started farming in 2020. He has been trying to improve the soil
since then. To do that, he rotates crops and uses cover crops to keep nutrients
in the ground. The land now supports a variety of crops, including okra, figs,
Asian eggplants and watermelons.

Gobert also grows rice at Driftwood Farm. Rice is usually grown by flooding the
fields with water, producing methane, a potent planet-warming gas. So Gobert
grows his rice using drip irrigation to get water directly to the roots.

"In our attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we're looking at ways of
growing rice as an alternative to the continuous flooding of the fields, as
we've done for hundreds of years here in Louisiana," Gobert says.

Using less water to grow rice is an example of what the U.S. Department of
Agriculture calls climate-smart agriculture. Cover crops (like red clover and
cereal rye), no-till farming and crop rotation are all considered good practices
for the climate and for farming. The idea is that farmers can reduce pollution
that contributes to human-caused climate change while producing enough food to
make a living.

The science isn't clear on what impacts climate-smart agriculture has on the
climate. Still, it does have benefits for farmers and communities, says Paul
West, a senior scientist who researches ecosystems and agriculture at Project
Drawdown.

Leslie Gamboni /
Left: Gobert dries shallots on his farm. The owner of Driftwood Farm, he
practices climate-smart farming methods. Right: Gobert uses sunflowers to
attract pollinators and divert pests from crops.

"I think a lot of climate-smart farming practices are very good in terms of the
health of the soil and long-term productivity for a farmer," West says.

Gobert comes from generations of farmers who believed the land could provide
everything the family needed to survive. He says his father left him with
valuable advice, which Gobert carries with him to this day.

"One of his statements to me that I'll never forget as a child is that all of
these inputs that we're bringing into our farm is great, and we're able to make
money off of it, but one day we're going to pay for not taking care of the
land," Gobert says.

For now, he wants to leave the farm better off than he found it for the next
generation of farmers in his family.




WORKING WITH SMALL-FARM OWNERS



In 2023, the Biden administration announced that $20 billion would go toward
climate-smart agriculture over the next five years. Some farmers are tapping
into the federal money to help implement these ideas. Other farmers are learning
how to do climate-smart agriculture through Black land-grant universities and
colleges.

John Coleman manages the Alcorn State University demonstration farm in Mound
Bayou, in the Mississippi Delta. In mid-June, he showed a group of small-farm
owners and others around, pointing out crops such as the purple hull peas the
farm grows. He also showed the practices used on the farm, like limited
irrigation and growing cover crops.

"That's to help protect our soil that we're losing. You can see global warming
and things like that, so we are trying to protect the earth," Coleman says.

Leslie Gamboni /
Gobert, of Driftwood Farm, harvests white bush scallop squash. Gobert practices
farming with the climate in mind. He rotates crops, and he grows rice by putting
water directly on the roots rather than flooding fields, which generates methane
— a potent planet-warming gas.

The Agriculture Department is partnering with historically Black colleges and
universities, like Alcorn, and other entities through Partnerships for
Climate-Smart Commodities. The goal is to work with small-scale and underserved
farmers on projects that help farmers, ranchers and private forest landowners
address climate change.

Daniel Collins, a professor of plant pathology at Alcorn, says it's not a new
idea to work with Black land-grant universities, which are also known as 1890s.

"The 1890s system has a long history of working with small farmers, beginning
from George Washington Carver, Booker Whatley, just to name a few," Collins
says.

Carver and Whatley were big proponents of environmental farming practices.
Carver practiced crop rotation by using peanuts and other crops to reintroduce
nutrients and nitrogen into the soil. Whatley helped develop a
community-supported agriculture model to help small Black-owned farms struggling
with limited resources.

Now, Alcorn State University and other groups are adding to that long history.
Through Agriculture Department funding, they are enrolling farmers in a project
to measure how much carbon dioxide soil stores when they use climate-smart
practices. That study will take five years to complete, but researchers hope
that with the help of Black farmers, they'll learn whether climate-smart
agriculture does indeed reduce emissions.

Maya Miller / Gulf States Newsroom
/
Gulf States Newsroom
Small-farm owners, as well as students and faculty with Florida A&M University,
the University of Florida and Alcorn State University, examine plants on Start 2
Finish Farm in Marks, Miss., on June 19. It's part of a two-day Small Farm
Climate Integrated Pest Management workshop covering topics such as organic pest
control methods, soil amendments, cover crops and soil and water management.




THE ROLE OF FARMING COOPERATIVELY



Through funding and research, climate-smart agriculture is catching on in the
Gulf South. Farmers like Chris Muse are helping others learn how to do this. He
started Muse 3 Farm with his brothers in Greensburg, La., in 2015. Now, they
help other Black farmers with the land on their small farms.

"One of the things we've been working with the other local farmers to do is soil
health," Muse says. "How do you improve upon your soil health without having a
lot of additives like synthetic fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides."

On past farm tours, Muse and his brothers would ask these same farmers whether
they had Agriculture Department contracts for conservation or environmental
practices. No one would raise their hand. Muse says that this response was
understandable given that, historically, Black farmers have been wary of the
government. The federal class action lawsuit called the Pigford v. Glickman case
showed years of loan discrimination against Black farmers.

Leslie Gamboni /
Ducks seek shade under trees at Driftwood Farm on July 16. Gobert integrates
livestock with crop production to enhance soil health and biodiversity.

Farming cooperatives have historically acted as mediators for Black farmers who
felt they were treated unfairly, Muse explains. Now that funding for
climate-smart agriculture is available, those same groups are working to ensure
the money to help do climate-smart agriculture makes it into the hands of
small-scale, underserved farmers. It's a step toward making sure those
historical injustices that Black owners of small farms faced aren't repeated.

"What I tell my small Black farmers is that the funding is there now," Muse
says. "What are you going to do? You going to get your share of the funding, or
are you going to let the next farmer get your share?"

It's not only about justice. Climate-smart agriculture is also about the impact
that climate change is already having on farmers, Muse says. Last year,
Louisiana experienced a drought. Muse worries about how to protect the land.

"We have to do some sustainability practices. If not, you know, we're doomed,"
Muse says.

He thinks climate-smart agriculture can help shift that tide and make it so that
farmers can protect their land for future generations.

Copyright 2024 NPR





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