What Raphael Warnock’s reelection means for Black farmers

Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock won Georgia’s runoff election on Dec. 6 and, for Black farmers, this victory signified a short-term preservation of their long-sought political momentum. Warnock must take advantage of this opportunity to prioritize Black farmers in his policy agenda.

The Black farming population in the United States has dwindled over the past several decades. Currently, Black farmers represent only 1.4 percent of the nation’s farmers and less than 1 percent of farms and total agricultural sales. In Warnock’s home state, Black farmers represent just 4 percent of Georgia’s farmers, despite Black residents comprising nearly one-third of the state’s overall population — almost three times the national average (31.57 percent vs. 13.6 percent, respectively). These glaring disparities are largely due to historical forms of structural discrimination and inequity on the part of the government and Department of Agriculture (USDA).

During his time in office, Warnock has proven to be a fierce stalwart and champion of Black farmers’ political issues. In February 2021, for example, he spearheaded the introduction of the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021 to the Senate.

The bill was considered one of the largest legislative pieces for Black farmers to date, allocating $4 billion in direct relief to help them respond to the devastating consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and provide a necessary correction to decades of structural discrimination in agriculture. The bill was ultimately restructured as a part of the revised Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, leaving out explicit inclusion criteria for farmers of color.

The removal of the provision represents a long legacy of unkept promises to Black farmers, leading some to file a class action lawsuit. Despite this alleged “broken promise” by the Biden administration, the legislative act highlighted Warnock’s political dexterity and gave Black farmers’ political issues a level of national limelight not witnessed since the historic 1999 Pigford v. Glickman class action lawsuit.

As a critical food studies scholar, I have had conversations with Black farmers across the country about the myriad challenges they face in the modern agriculture and food landscape. Collectively, they have identified feelings of being ignored and/or not taken seriously by policymakers and government agencies; tokenization for their symbolic representation as signposts of diversity, equity and inclusion progress; and inauthentic appeals of listening to their plight without meaningful action.

During one specific conversation, a Tennessee farmer noted, “People don’t want to listen to us — they want to hear us, but they’re not listening to us. They’re not taking us serious about what we want to do.” These perspectives draw attention to Black farmers’ limited voice and political presence in dominant agricultural spaces.

Leading up to Georgia’s runoff election, mainstream conversations about what was at stake politically for Democrats centered on maintaining control of the Senate and implications for the 2024 presidential election. Moving forward, the impact that Warnock’s presence in the Senate has for Black farmers needs more attention.

With his reelection victory in hand, Warnock now has six more years to help create transformative change in Black communities by advocating for Black farmers’ political rights. Prioritizing their political voice, participation and lived experiences would  provide a uniquely innovative and emancipatory approach to doing agriculture that would positively affect not only Black farmers themselves but the Black community more generally, by reenvisioning efforts that address food access and food insecurity.

With a federal class action lawsuit on the horizon and a looming land dispossession crisis, time is running out for Warnock to improve the long-term economic sustainability of Black farmers and rebuild their trust in the national government.

Andrew Carter, PhD, MPH, is assistant professor in the Department of Public Health and Recreation, College of Health and Human Sciences, and director of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) in the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at San Jose State University. He is working on a book project with Black women farmers and previously has conducted research on the experiences of Black farmers in the South.