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AMNA NAWAZ: The number of
self-identified Black farmers in
the United States has dwindled

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over the last century, in part
because of discrimination by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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The agency is the economic
backbone for most American
farmers through its
financing, insurance

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and research and
education programs.

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Special correspondent
Fred de Sam Lazaro reports
from Oklahoma, where,
despite roadblocks to

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federal aid, there's a concerted
push to help Black and other
underserved farmers survive.

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LEROY BRINKLEY, Rancher: I
knew I was going to do this
since I was 7 years old.

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First time I pretty much got
on a tractor with my uncle,
and I knew I love agriculture.

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Wouldn't give it for
nothing in the world.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Did you know
how tough it was going to be?

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LEROY BRINKLEY: No.

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I do now.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
For 50 year old Leroy
Brinkley, self-described
hermit, this 80-acre

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farm with nearly three dozen
beef cows is his comfort zone,
a labor-intensive full-time

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job, but it is one he
has to finance by working
at least as long off the
farm as a heavy equipment

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mechanic and truck driver.

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Why isn't farming by itself
a full-time occupation?

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Because the work certainly
is full-time, right?

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Yes, the work
is there, but the money is not.

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Economically, I don't see
this working just by itself.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: When he
began farming three decades
ago, Leroy Brinkley tried to

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get a loan from the USDA.

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But at the local office, he
says he was turned down and
turned off by the experience.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: I
brought the papers, and
it was just no support.

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I could tell from the get-go
I wasn't going to get help.

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I tried it anyway, trying
to be nice, polite.

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I still didn't get the
support that I needed from it.

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So, I couldn't bother
with it anymore.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: An
experience all too familiar to
Black and minority farmers.

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JOHN BOYD JR., President,
National Black Farmers
Association: We have
clearly been dumped on

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worse than any other race
in this country by our
own federal government.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: John Boyd
Jr. is president of the National
Black Farmers Association

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and a fourth-generation
Virginia farmer.

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He says African Americans
have been systematically
excluded from programs
that enable farmers

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to acquire land and build
wealth, and unfairly
targeted for foreclosure.

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JOHN BOYD JR.: The government
has to start living up to
its commitment, and they have

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to start treating Black farmers
with dignity and respect.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The
government has settled
two class action lawsuits
in the past 25 years.

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TOM VILSACK, U.S.
Agriculture Secretary:
Socially disadvantaged
producers were discriminated

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against by the United States
Department of Agriculture.

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We know this.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And, in
2021, the Biden administration
included billions in debt relief

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for minority farmers in
its American Rescue Plan.

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But lawsuits from white farmers,
claiming reverse discrimination,
held up the program.

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In response, Congress
repealed it last August,
instead setting aside money
in the administration's

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Inflation Reduction Act now for
so-called distressed borrowers.

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WILLARD TILLMAN,
Executive Director,
Oklahoma Black Historical
Research Project: There a

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lot of opportunities there
under this administration
that a lot of people
are not taking advantage

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of.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Willard
Tillman;s organization
is a resource that
connects minority farmers

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to complex government
farm programs.

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He says there's a rare
opportunity to bring
these farmers into the
system from which they

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felt alienated.

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WILLARD TILLMAN: If they
don't understand it, they're
ain't going to mess with it.

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So that is where we come in.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: They
don't trust the government.

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WILLARD TILLMAN: They trust me.

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I don't take dirty
water to them.

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If it is good for
them, I tell them yes.

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If it's not good for
them, I tell them no.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Survive
with these cows.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: With the
help of Tillman's group, Leroy
Brinkley enrolled in a program

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last year called
CARE, Conservation and
Agriculture Reach Everyone.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Those
blackbirds, you see
how they started?

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: It paid
him $70 an acre for 40 acres,
which he used to partner with

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a local elementary student
to bring goats to graze
on the invasive species.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Want to
try to get this covered
with a cover crop.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: This year he
has participating again, getting
support to plant more grass

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for his herd to graze on.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Fifteen hundred
dollars in seed ought to get it.

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SARAH BLANEY, Oklahoma
Association of Conservation
Districts: Yes, well,
time, yes, for your

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time.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Yes.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Sarah Blaney
runs the Oklahoma Association
of Conservation Districts,

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which administers the
admittedly modest CARE program.

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SARAH BLANEY: Our specific
program is smaller, but our hope
is that this is maybe the first

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introduction to that process
and makes them a little bit
more comfortable with the idea

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of working with government,
so that, when they're ready
to go apply for those bigger

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contracts, they know the
right questions to ask.

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They know what their rights are.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: A
more immediate challenge
for Brinkley is the
months-long drought across

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Oklahoma, which has almost
tripled hay prices this year.

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So it costs you about 700 bucks
per week to feed this group?

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LEROY BRINKLEY: Yes.

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This is very
expensive this year.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Some of
his expenses have been offset
by a $50,000 loan he received

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through the Native Creek Nation,
where he is an enrolled member,
money that was guaranteed

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by the USDA.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: It
did not grow me any.

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It just kind of took the
curves off some things.

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Maybe the next time, the next
go-around, when this operation
is up fully and running, it

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may make a difference.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The
Black Farmers Association's
Boyd applauds efforts
like those in Oklahoma,

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but he says the money now
available is a fraction
of what would have come
to minority farmers

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under the debt relief
program that was repealed.

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JOHN BOYD JR.: We were
promised 120 percent debt
relief, and we didn't get it.

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It looks like to me, every
time Black farmers are promised
something in this country, we

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don't get it.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The
USDA declined an interview
request, but, in a
statement to "PBS NewsHour,"

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said, given court injunctions
that tied its hands, the goal
was to get relief to farmers

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quickly, adding that: "The
Inflation Reduction Act provided
$3.1 billion that will allow

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USDA to work with distressed
borrowers, and for
those farmers that have
suffered discrimination

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by the USDA farm loan
programs, Congress
allocated to $2.2 billion."

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But Boyd says the government
broke a promise and a contract
with minority farmers, and

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he is suing the USDA.

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JOHN BOYD JR.: When they changed
the language to distressed,
it opened it up, and white

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farmers were able to get
their loans and stuff current.

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There are far more white
farmers than there are Black
farmers in this country.

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We are less than 1 percent.

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We are facing extinction.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Back in the
early 1900s, Black Americans
owned some 16 million acres

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of farmland, a number that
was down by 90 percent by
the turn of the 21st century.

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Here in Oklahoma, there once
were more than 50 all-Black
towns built around agriculture.

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Clearview is one of just
13 that survive today.

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SHIRLEY NERO, Resident
of Clearview, Oklahoma:
My family moved here
in 1902, when the town

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was established.

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My dad had a 40-acre farm.

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This is where I will
stay until I pass away.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Shirley Nero
and her husband, Donnie, both
had careers as educators, Donnie

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eventually becoming president
of Connors State College.

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But they were both pulled to
return to this tiny town 80
miles east of Oklahoma City,

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population about 50.

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SHIRLEY NERO: Most of
those people that settled
here were freed men.

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When Oklahoma became a state
in 1907, the first bill they
passed was the Jim Crow law.

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And this was a place of freedom.

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They could express themselves.

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They could actually
support themselves.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: As the
years went on, the population
and Black-owned land eventually

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began to dwindle.

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SHIRLEY NERO: Our school got
down to 32 in the high school,
and then that is when they

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closed it, in '64.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The Neros
built their house and now breed
cattle here, a rare reverse

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migration, they admit.

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DONNIE NERO, Rancher: We see so
many of the young people today,
their parents or grandparents

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have had land for so many years,
but that almighty dollar speaks.

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And, when it does, they
are going to move, and the
farms are going to be lost.

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And when you lose the land
that you have, and you now
find yourself in a condominium

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somewhere, the value does
not -- doesn't equate.

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FRED DE SAM LAZARO: For
his part, Leroy Brinkley
is open to participating
in more farm programs,

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but, based on experience,
says he is not counting
on anyone but himself.

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LEROY BRINKLEY: I have got
a little piece of a home.

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I'm satisfied.

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Had to move some hurdles
out of the way, but I
am making a go of it.

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For the "PBS NewsHour,"
I'm Fred de Sam Lazaro
in Haskell, Oklahoma.

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AMNA NAWAZ: And Fred's
reporting is a partnership
with the Under-Told
Stories Project at the

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University of St.
Thomas in Minnesota.

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And there is more online,
including a look at the lives
of Black farmers through
a photographer's lens.

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You can see those images
at PBS.org/NewsHour.