*Lack of access to credit, including stories of unsympathetic, prejudiced
bankers.
*Feelings of isolation and a lack of support from neighboring farmers.
*Landlords who suddenly decide to rent land to someone else.
*Difficulties trying to make enough money to live on from a small land base.
*Concern about fair access to markets.
*The difficulty of solving weed, pest, and soil problems without a lot of
purchased inputs.
*A lack of support from Extension and the universities solving these
problems, underfunded programs to meet the information needs of sustainable
farmers.
*The need to try to connect with other farmers who share their values to
exchange information and lend each other support.
*The need to find innovative, direct-to-consumer marketing channels in
order to get the income they need to survive.
Hmmm... Sustainable farmers have been facing and trying to solve these and
other problems for a few decades now.
Perhaps we could learn a thing or three from Black farmers who have been
facing very, very similar problems for 130 years. In reality, the problems
they've had to face make our issues seem pretty trivial.
Craig
Craig Cramer
mailto:cdcramer@clarityconnect.com
Sustainable Farming Connection -- "Where farmers find and share information."
http://sunsite.unc.edu/farming-connection
"The water will never clear up 'til you get the hogs out of the creek."
-- Jim Hightower
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