First, it was the war against DEI. Then came tariffs and funding cuts to essential services. Now, the war with Iran is the latest hit against America’s agriculture sector, resulting in rising costs, farm foreclosures, and food shortages. Unsurprisingly, the Trump Administration’s “relief” efforts leave out those most affected: small and minority farmers.
John Boyd, Founder of the Black Farmers Association, speaks candidly to April Ryan concerning the state of farming in America. From losing access to millions of grant dollars, to ICE’s rampage against migrant workers, to the war’s creation of fertilizer shortages, black farmers are facing widespread foreclosure and rising costs. This agricultural instability leads to exploding grocery prices and a shrinking food supply. Boyd also reveals the truth behind the White House’s “all white” farming meeting that excluded minority and small farmers.
John Boyd is a fourth-generation farmer, civil rights activist, and President and Founder of the National Black Farmers Association.
April Ryan
Welcome to another edition, a special edition of The Tea, with someone that we have known for years. I mean, decades. He has been on the battlefield fighting for farmers, particularly Black farmers, for decades. I mean, I met him back in the Clinton administration. He was doing it way before then. We’re talking about none other than John Boyd of the Black Farmers. Association, National Black Farmers Association. John, welcome.
John Boyd
Thank you. Thank you, April, for having me, and the people don’t know the role that you played, and the Black farmers. So before we get into all that, I want to thank you, because when you were in the White House newsroom, you asked a big question.
April Ryan
I’m still there!
John Boyd
Well, I’m speaking to this specific question that you presented to President… former President Barack Obama, and when he would, have the meeting with… with board and settle the Black Farmers, case. And Abel, that question led into a historic meeting and the president entered into a settlement agreement with the MBFA that provided $1.25 billion. And that was in 2010, that happened, and you were the one that stood up in the White House newsroom and asked that question.
April Ryan
But I’ve been asking since the Clinton years.
John Boyd
Oh, yeah, you’ve been asked a long time, but that one led to a historic payout, and I wanted the viewers to understand the significance, or the role that you played for many decades in the White House newsroom. There was no other person that stood up in that room to ask that question. But you… you knew all the history, and you stood up and asked. Barack Obama, and you know, he didn’t get any credit, April. They always say he didn’t do much for Black people, but you stood up, a Black woman to a Black man, and he answered, and we had the meeting, and the rest is history.
April Ryan
How about reporter to a president? Hey. That’s right. Reporter who just happened to be black, and a president who just happened to be black. And that just, once again, underscores the plight of farmers, but at that time, Black farmers. And, you know, we’ve been fighting this battle, asking questions about farmers. since the beginning of this nation. And, and just, just to clarify, Vilsack, Secretary, Agriculture Secretary, Vilsack at the time, the last administration, said that Black farmers at the turn of the century were about a million, now they’re about 50,000. So, that… it’s important, but let’s talk overall about the plight of all farmers in this nation. Since this administration, you’ve been hit with tariffs, other countries have been giving special graces. to do things that farmers here used to do and make money with. What is the plight of farmers right now in this nation?
John Boyd
I haven’t seen it this bad April since the 80s, and this president has been the worst president for America’s farmers. White, Black, Latino, Native American. He came right in April. and impose tariffs on China, Mexico, Canada. on all three of the commodities that affect America’s farmers, corn, wheat, and soybeans. When he imposed those tariffs, the price plummeted, all the way down to about $9 or so a bushel. And… and we have… we had rising input costs, so since he came in, President Trump came in, bankruptcies are up, farm foreclosures are up, farm suicides. are up, and all of our input costs are up. But this president says he loves it, he loves farmers. And I don’t know if you saw it last week, he came to the White House with a gold tractor, April. A gold tractor while we have 196 Black farmers facing foreclosure. He told farmers to go out and buy new tractors and combines that cost a million dollars, and they won’t help struggling Black farmers. They issued letters of, foreclosure, loan acceleration to, Black farmers, and those are only the farmers able to reach out to us, so it’s been complete chaos. This president gave $40 billion to his friend in Argentina. American farmers are… were… were going out of business by the handfuls in here.
April Ryan
Meat is going… is coming from overseas. Soy, soy farmers are having a problem now, sending their product to China. I mean, what crops are actually thriving in this nation, and doing well?
John Boyd
Well, no crop is thriving, and you know, here’s the shameful part, that you and the American consumers are gonna pay within 30 to 60 days at the supermarket. Diesel fuel is up 40%. I filled my tractor up yesterday, April. A 100-gallon, farm tractor, $6.38 for off-road diesel fuel. $6.38. That is $638 a tank. And this president said, you know, oil is $116 a barrel, and President Trump said when the oil goes up. You know, we make money. Well, April, who in the same world as we? Because we’re going out of business, so we’re not making any money, you know, paying $6.30 and 38 cents a gallon for off-road diesel fuel.
April Ryan
So this is the planting season, and you were talking about your diesel fuel for your tractor. You’re out there planting. I mean, depending upon where you live in this country, the zone, you probably started planting in late February, am I correct?
John Boyd
Yes.
April Ryan
Yeah.
John Boyd
Well, the planting season for, grain farmers is right now, so they should be applying fertilizer. That’s the first step in the farming process. So, you can’t plant your seed, April, until you apply fertilizer to all of your fields.
April Ryan
And fertilizer is a problem right now.
John Boyd
Well, you can’t get it in due to this war. You know, that’s a region that applies supplies in the United States. Between 30% to 35% of our national supply comes from that region of the country.
April Ryan
the Middle East.
John Boyd
the Middle East and ships aren’t coming through due to this war. Every time the president says he’s helping farmers, he’s helping us out of business. And here’s another example of that, where we can’t get fertilizer, and fertilizer of 40% April. That equates to $140 a ton for the weaker fertilizer. And $200 a ton for the stronger, fertilizer. And for the average farmer in this country. That equates to a $100,000 increase to his bottom line. So where’s the money coming from? And President Trump continues to say, April, oh, it’s just going to be a short-term period for America’s farmers. We never got over the tariffs, we never got over all the stuff that he’s done with beef, us sending the beef business over to Argentina, and now we got fertilizer. and diesel fuel crisis. And what’s that gonna equate to is a lot of farmers not being able to get their crops in the ground, and we’re going to have a food shortage in this country, and the American consumer is going to pay the price, you know, at the local grocery stores.
April Ryan
you know, what do you say? I mean, for you to say something like that, and it sounds very catastrophic, but it is reality, and we try not to be catastrophic, but you are out there…
John Boyd
Well, you know what, April and… You know, and… if you hear the pain in my voice, it’s because we’re taking calls from Black farmers, in this instance, who are in distress, where they said, board, and historically, April, we’ve had some, some funding. various streams that allowed us to help Black farmers get out of foreclosure, and the only stipulation would be not to sell their farm within 3 years or mortgage it, and we would pay them current. Because the president, this administration cut Last week alone, $300 million to Black farmers that cut grants out that allowed them to purchase land. All of these things are being cut. And April, when they had the farm meeting at the White House, and you should understand this.
April Ryan
And you were not invited.
John Boyd
Not invited, and you know what? It should have been more of an outroar, because, two days later, he did the same thing to the Black governor, which, I understand the reality of this guy’s.
April Ryan
Wes Moore, yes, of Maryland.
John Boyd
I’m certainly not, but I’m saying here’s what the… here’s what the White House staff has said to me. Well, You won’t be invited to the farm meeting, and there are other farm… there are farm leaders from different, white organizations, primarily.
April Ryan
Any other minority farming organizations?
John Boyd
Man, no… there were no Black farmers in the room, there were no Black people in the audience. It was an all-white farm meeting at the White House, April. And here’s what they told me. Well, you can’t come to the meeting because we’re moving away from the Black farmer issue. That’s what the White House said to me. They were moving away from DEI, They were moving away from the small farm issue, and we’re going to be focusing on more large-scale farmers and corporate farmers who, Mr. Boyd, just happened to be white, but this has nothing to do with race, why you’re not coming to the meeting?
April Ryan
So, women, they said this to you.
John Boyd
Yes!
April Ryan
So wait a minute, okay, so, and here’s another piece. Here’s another piece. When Donald Trump was president the first term, he had this thing about, you know, deporting all of our Latino brothers and sisters, but people don’t understand that there is this strange. marriage with our economy and our migrant workers. And a lot of those large-scale white farmers has a lot of those migrant workers, and they’re upset now because the president pushed them away, and now the president’s trying to fix it and redeem it. So there’s so many different dynamics when it comes to the price of eggs, or the price of cucumbers, or tomatoes, or potatoes. It’s so much in it. You can’t get fertilizer, your oil is high, the diesel is high, the workers, you gotta find workers who may not be migrant workers, might take a higher pay than the migrant workers, and that raises the price. Am I hitting it there?
John Boyd
You know, and thank you for bringing up immigration, because I almost missed it. The president made, and this administration made a big mistake on… on farm workers in this country. Those are… those are, workers that come here, April, just about every year.
April Ryan
Yes.
John Boyd
They make the money, and they go back home.
April Ryan
work visas.
John Boyd
Yes, these aren’t thieves and murderers and rapists, all this stuff the president said they are. These people come in, they work hard, and I watch them. They work in tobacco and cotton and all these… they do a lot of hard work, Abel, that a lot of people don’t want to do in this country. And he ran them out of this country, Rice did, and they was chasing them through farmers’ fields, and all kinds of degrading stuff that they did to these workers. Now, guess what? Now the large-scale white farmers that they say they want to help. don’t have the workers, the skilled workers. There is an art and skill set to farming, whether you’re a farm worker or whether you’re the farmer itself. You just don’t come in and learn all about strawberries in a couple days, or cucumbers and tomatoes. So he made a mistake, and now they’re trying to fix it. And it’s too late for that, you know? And you got all of this bad stuff going on. And when he gets away with, April, that was just very troubling for me as an advocate and a leader, a Black leader in this case, he says, oh, Black people love me. Oh, farmers! Farmers love me! if you… and he says he loves these people, that’s what he says, but if you love them, why do you have them in the condition that they’re in? And, we had a… I had a meeting last… last week out in, Illinois. And there were 8 Black farmers that had those foreclosure letters. that were, didn’t want to… didn’t want their names public, April, and listen to the reason why. And these are senior Black farmers, generational farmers. And they said, because, I don’t want nothing to happen to my children. You know how Black folks say. And my children… boy, I’m on my way out of here, I’m an older Black mom, but my children gotta live here, and I don’t want them to face backlash, because I speak out against the wrong that they’re doing me. Man, that’s… that’s a bad position to be in, that you’re afraid to tell the American people.
April Ryan
They’re hurting and don’t want to rock the boat. They’re hurting and don’t want to rock the boat.
John Boyd
But boy, we support you. You stay out there and keep doing what you’re doing. But April, we need Black… we need, Black leaders and, Black billionaires to start giving, because this administration don’t want us They’ve, kicked us out of USDA, they took away all the money, and now we have 196 Black people, Black farmers that have contacted us. We haven’t even surveyed the national membership. that say they have received one of these foreclosure notices. We need some people to write some happy checks, because we can’t lose any more land, messing around, waiting for the administration that clearly doesn’t want us.
April Ryan
So, you have layers upon layers upon layers of pain. Layers upon layers upon layers of paint, and I can’t help but think about people like Keisha Lance Bottoms, who’s running for governor in Georgia, where one of its primary industries is agriculture, farming. And it’s the majority white farmers that are upset. And her numbers are doing well, you know? She’s doing very well on the Democratic side. I can’t help but think of the pain of farmers could really be, could really go to the election cycle, and, could.
John Boyd
And guess what, April? You hit the nail… you hit the final nail in the coffin, because the Democratic Party really needs to make this issue, a part of their platform, instead of saying, well, you know, you know, Boyd Farmers voted for Trump 3 times. They sure did. And they’re gonna vote for him a fourth time if you don’t go after their population. Don’t sit there and say, ha ha ha, you’re going out of business because you support Trump. Here’s a chance to make some ground in some states that we have been struggling in for a very long time as Democrats in this country. Go after that population and say, you know what, I got a better plan for you to stay on your farm. and don’t vote for this mess that Trump put you in. That’s the first thing that we have to do. The Black Caucus can do a little bit better job at elevating the Farm Foreclosures Act. I reached out to them to let them know that I have 196… farmers facing foreclosure, and if there’s companies or foundations in their district that we can work with to help get some of these farmers out of foreclosure. These are some simple things that we can do based on their level of leadership in the country that, I say… I say the same word with the administration, because April, they say they don’t want you at the table, they say they don’t want you… they’re moving away from you, whatever that means. Now, they sound like, to me, they don’t want you. If I’m moving away from you, April, I don’t want you. That’s what that means to me. I mean, if it means something else to you, tell me. They don’t want us, but I’m saying as Black people, and I’m speaking directly as a Black man right now, we gotta warn ourselves. We gotta warn ourselves.
April Ryan
Amazing.
John Boyd
We have to come together to do that and put aside egos so we can save these Black farmers from foreclosure.
April Ryan
not just Black farmers, all farmers, because I’m… and I…
John Boyd
Listen, I’ll…
April Ryan
Well, I know, and I say that, and you know, I am… I am a product of two agrarian families. My mother, from an agrarian family, farming family in North Carolina, small product town called Saragorda, and then my father’s side, Maryland, so I am a product of farming, so I understand the importance, and I love produce. I am the biggest… I believe in vegetables, and you just really sent shivers down my spine, saying that there could be shortages. I mean, this could be worse than what we saw in COVID, if actually the war continues, correct? If the president continues with this bombardment because of the Strait of Hormuz is closed, everything. What does that look like if the president does… if he does what he says he’s gonna do?
John Boyd
Here’s what they did when they issued the budget, and you know all about this, but the people probably watching it does not. A 20% reduction in agriculture. across the board. That’s gonna mean for single women who are looking for milk and… and assistance and all this stuff won’t get it. School lunch program and farm-to-table type, stuff.
April Ryan
farmers were part of that SNAP program, because they… the produce went into that SNAP program, yes. Okay.
John Boyd
the P in America program, all that stuff is cut. So, every time they continue to cut agriculture, that’s going to have an effect on local grocery stores, and for people who are looking for fresh produce and stuff like that. It’s not going to be there in abundance like we’ve had in this country for so very, very long. We never had a farm crisis in this country the way that we have right now. And this president keeps saying it’s temporary, and he has these, farms. He had 800 people at the, White House, and like I said, he was out there able with a gold tractor, man. What in the world somebody need with a gold tractor for to put some dirt on it? I don’t know, but… He had a good.
April Ryan
And I know you’ve brought your tractor to the White House many times to protest, as well as the.
John Boyd
the New York Club.
April Ryan
the mule struggle, you… you have…
John Boyd
Let’s talk about that. Let’s talk about the history for a minute, because you have been front and center on this history, since the Clinton administration, and you know, when I came out the meeting with President Bill Clinton, the first reporter on the rope was April Ryan to say, boy, what happened in the meeting? That was the way, back then, April, we was getting the word out, and to the Black community was through people like you, that was… that people were listening…
April Ryan
All communities heard because I asked, that’s right.
John Boyd
That’s correct, and, and…
April Ryan
changed now.
John Boyd
Well, one thing has changed, but two, we have to understand history, April, because if we don’t understand it. It will repeat itself and punch you dead in the face. That’s why I’m telling this history. We were out there with the mule because we weren’t, you know, getting treated, and it was my daddy’s idea to say, John, you need a mule because every Black person over the age of 50 understand the significance of a mule, so I rode my mule and wagon up there 17 days to… protest, and the first person I saw out there was April Ryan.
April Ryan
in Lafayette Park with your tractor and your mule. I remember!
John Boyd
Well, you know, I’m telling this history because the people watching this, April, don’t know.
April Ryan
This is not new. It’s been an old struggle, and now it’s not just for farmers. It’s going to… it is impacting you, because prices at the grocery store… I mean, people are now getting into this urban farming, planning things themselves, and unfortunately, that might be where we have to go, because…
John Boyd
There’s a couple things, Avan. There’s gonna be a lot of farmers that’s going to lose land, and I’m very sorry about that. And a lot of generational farmers, especially around some of the other Midwestern states, like Illinois is where I was just at. There’s gonna be a lot of generational land that changes hands And what I am saying to Blacks that are, some of our living comfortably, is to buy some of the land. Alright, make yourself… pull yourself, pull yourself monies together in your family. and buy some of this land, because you’re never gonna see this type of land change again in history, not in my lifetime and yours. So, it could be an adverse thing for some people, it could be a good thing for others if you do it right. So, I’ve been saying this in some formats, and I think this is a… a format that I can honestly say that in, is that Black people need to organize and buy some of this land, even in smaller tracts. 5 acres, 20 acres, and if you have a government job or a good corporate job. Buy yourself some land, and don’t buy that new car, that new Cadillac or Mercedes-Benz, and pass down generational wealth to your children, and start planting some healthy food in your backyard. These are some things that we can do on our own, without the government, who’s clearly saying that we can’t be a part of the agriculture sector, but we certainly can be a part of ourselves, April, and do a little bit better job there.
April Ryan
I got my hydroponic garden, and my husband and I are getting ready to construct my little raised garden in the back, because I’m telling you, I…
John Boyd
Desperation.
April Ryan
For what you’re saying, though, it is… it’s… you’re not… it’s reality. It sounds like it’s catastrophizing, but it’s not real.
John Boyd
And again, to go back to our history. April, that’s what we did. My grandparents canned, they canned tomatoes, and string beans, and squash, and they made pickles, all of these things.
April Ryan
I can… I can grow a good squash and zucchini now.
John Boyd
Everything, everything, my grandfather said, everything good and great came from the land.
April Ryan
Yeah.
John Boyd
Drinking water, timber to build homes, land to raise your family on.
April Ryan
ounce for milk.
John Boyd
Yes, and we…
April Ryan
So…
John Boyd
along the way, we got away from that, and because of slavery and Jim Crow and shit, we thought of it as a bad thing, but now, based on the politics of this country.
April Ryan
Yeah.
John Boyd
go back to our roots, and start taking care of ourselves, and start eating healthy food, and band together. And April, we can outlive this precedent. We can outlive this precedent, and come together in these midterms elections. Go out, man, go out and vote. Go out and… You know, if I hear another young brother tell me, man, my vote don’t count, or man, I ain’t voting here, don’t mean… It’s gonna be me and him, April, because guess what? If you can’t look and see what this president is doing to your people and this country, and you not go out and vote in the midterm elections, man, something’s wrong with you. So, that’s my message to the younger generation there.
April Ryan
You heard it from John Boyd, the head of the National Black Farmers Association. He’s not new to this, he’s true to this, decades in, still fighting for farmers and farming, and the war, the tariffs, immigration, everything, and gas prices. The war is the direct correlation to gas prices. Everything is the reason for the rise in produce, all things at the grocery store. And he’s even saying that there could be a day, because of the harsh policies and practices by this second term of the Trump administration. We might not have some produce and products that we normally get. From our farmers across this country.
John Boyd
And April, as we close, go out to blackfarmers.org and make a contribution to help save 196 Black farmers keep their farm. And thank you so much. And from the Black farmers, from me to you, we love you, and we appreciate the work that you do every day to elevate our people and represent us well in the White House.
April Ryan
I need to have you on more, because I hadn’t talked to you in a minute, and I just… you just made me feel good and make me want to go out farming. John Boyd, thank you. Be well.
