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Madison Co. Virginia | Just a comment on the race thing --
I've looked through a random collection of USDA yearbooks of agriculture(forget what they're called exactly) and various farm and dairy publications from the 70's and 80's. I'd guess that 5% of the farmers shown in the magazines were black. A solid 10%+ of the farmers in the government-sponsored yearbooks were black.
I expect there may have been some bias on the government publications to make the industry appear more racially integrated. The same bias may have influenced the private magazines, but I'd guess it was to a much lesser extent.
Regardless of the assumed bias, I'm sure the percentage of black farmers has diminished over the past couple decades.
My theory, is the black farmers of the 70's had not been in possession of the land or trade for as long as their white counterparts. Hence, they were quicker to abandon farming for more lucrative pursuits. The white farmers have been more stuck in tradition, and have not jumped for the better paying career options like the blacks have.
Sort of a separate subject, but the typical stereotype of welfare-dependent blacks doesn't ring true for here. A fair number of the black people living locally have retired from good jobs in the DC-metro area, and are now living among the poor white farmers in this rural county. | |
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Thoughts on Race & Farming
