Michigan Black Farm Owners' Perceptions About Farm Ownership Credit Acquisition: A Critical Race Analysis

While the financial plight and credit needs of Black farmers has received limited attention in the literature, Critical Race Theory (CRT) is a novel approach that can contextualize these problems in the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) farm loan programs (FLPs). Using a critical race methodology to interpret 11 semi-structured interviews with Black Michigan farm owners, we investigate experiential perceptions of farm ownership loans. Findings indicate that farmers hesitate to use government farm loans, because of histories of racialized experiences, racial discriminatory lending practices, and non-existent outreach from Farm Service Agency lenders. Farmers' perceptions of racial disadvantage in farm loan acquisition suggest a serious need for greater fairness and better education in the administration of FLPs, as the USDA aims to embark in a new civil rights era.