Black Land Matters

     A lot of stories were covered in this chapter, specifically around Black-owned or operated farmland either here or in other parts of the world, either in the past, or present. What stuck out to me the most was that African and other non-European and non-American agricultural practices were and still are similar to practices being pushed by organic farmers today. And the idea of pesticides being introduced in this light made me view them as a weapon to weaken a community, just like killing the Bison. 

    We read before that the USA specifically targeted Bison in an effort to weaken native communities, and while I don't think this is as targeted, the thought occurred that policy makers may have been so quick to push pesticides not only for the short term production increase, but also because they knew many Black farm owners would not be able to afford them, and would then be out-produced and out-priced by wealthier white farmers. Conspiracies aside, the glamour of pesticides was seen through by Carver, yet they still went on to dominate agriculture, even today. 

    It was said that in the late 1700s, one person couldn't believe how productive some farmlands were on the Virgin Islands, all year-round. Yet we did not adopt those agroforestry methods as status quo, and had little agroforestry until the late 1900s. I don't know if there is some witty phrase for this, but it feels like every time the USA has tried to rid of something in an effort to do it the USA way, it goes south, and then the original ways are re-adopted and re-branded as new methods discovered in the USA. Ah, the internet calls it "reinventing the wheel".