As supply chain disruptions and tariffs continue to strain farmers, producers like John Boyd, Jr. are calling on eaters to use their vote to protect the future of agriculture in the United States.Â
Diesel prices are hovering around US$6.35 per gallon—just below the record high of US$6.53 seen in September—according to AAA. Boyd, the President and Founder of the National Black Farmers Association, reports that it recently cost him around US$1,000 to fill his combine.Â
“I found myself letting some bills go right now, and I made the choice to get my crop harvested out of the field while I can,” Boyd tells Food Tank. “Healthcare had to go.”
Boyd points to the Trump-Vance Administration, whose trade policies and decision to launch a war in Iran are pushing food producers to the brink. A report from North Dakota State University’s (NDSU) Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies finds that market disruptions are resulting in significant costs to farmers, causing greater instability.Â
Most producers, Boyd says, are “really working in the red.”Â
The conditions are reminiscent of the 1980s farm crisis. Boyd managed to keep his farm afloat as debt soared and many families were forced from their land four decades ago. “But this is different,” he says about today. “It’s intentional.”
To Boyd, American agriculture can’t survive if the country stays on course. “There is no way that you continue to support this type of agriculture for our country because there won’t be any left,” he tells Food Tank. “There’ll be a handful of corporate farmers and a lot of data centers if you don’t change your thinking and look the other way.”
As the midterm elections approach, he urges people everywhere to vote, arguing the future of the country’s agriculture sector depends on it. “That’s the only way to put any sort of pressure on this runaway train,” he says. “So my message is: Go out and vote, vote early, and let’s put some checks and balances back in our country.”
Listen to the full conversation with John Boyd, Jr. on Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg to hear more about the urgency Boyd sees, his advice to Black farmers frustrated with the political system, and what it will take to stop farm foreclosures.
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Photo courtesy of Yurii Hetsko, Unsplash
