Trump’s ‘betrayal’ of white farmers could give Black farmers opportunity to reclaim land

“We need a private equity firm, a Bob Johnson type of guy…We need people like that at the table,” John Boyd, founder of the National Association of Black Farmers, told theGrio.

White farmers are outraged with the White House after President Donald Trump announced that he would buy beef from Argentina, threatening the cattle market in the United States amid ongoing agricultural and economic challenges for farmers.

Trump said his proposal to invest $20 billion in Argentina’s beef industry will help U.S. consumers by bringing down prices. On Sunday, he told reporters that Argentina needed the investment because “they’re fighting for their lives.” Advocacy groups called the proposal a “betrayal” of U.S. ranchers to bail out Argentina, whose president is an ally of Trump.

“After crashing the soybean market and gifting Argentina our largest export buyer, he’s now poised to do the same to the cattle market,” said Farm Action, a nonpartisan farmer-led watchdog.

But for Black farmers, the economic headwinds facing white farmers are nothing new. They’ve endured decades of racial discrimination at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and, most recently, major cuts to racial programs executed by the Trump administration that they relied on to survive.

Many white farmers could soon find themselves economically vulnerable and in jeopardy of losing their farms, much like Black farmers have been for years.

“He’s treating white farmers like Black farmers now. He got us all in here together, getting nothing. It’s new territory for them,” said John Boyd, president and founder of the National Black Farmers Association. “Many farmers will not survive going on to next season based on the condition that they’re in. You’re going to see a lot of farmers go under.”

Boyd, a longtime civil rights advocate, said he and his association of tens of thousands of Black farmers see an opportunity to build back better.

“Black people need to be organized and pull their money together and buy some of this land,” he told theGrio. “If you can afford a raggedy a—, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, a pickup truck, an SUV, that ain’t worth nothing when you pull them off the lot…you can afford five acres in the country, something God don’t make no more of, which is land.”

The Black farmers advocate also urged wealthy Black Americans to step up and purchase farmland.

“We need a private equity firm, a Bob Johnson type of guy…We need people like that at the table to help package a deal like that together where we can make some money,” said Boyd, referring to BET founder Robert “Bob” Johnson. “That’s the type of plan I would like to see happen in this country, and it can’t be about ‘me.’ It has to be about ‘we.'”

Boyd pointed out the irony that many white farmers are MAGA supporters and backed Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“They’ve got to be feeling really ignorant right now, and they voted for this guy. My message to white farmers is that next year is the midterm election. Are you gonna vote the same? Does this feel bad enough for you to look the other way and give some other candidates a chance?”

The farmer also has a message for Black Americans: “Do we keep harping on the past about what didn’t work, or do we keep letting this president dump on us?”

Boyd said he is looking to the future for what could be possible for Black farmers. But in order to achieve this, the community has to work together like never before. He envisions a world where Black farmers can build an “infrastructure” in which they have “markets for ourselves and the ability to deliver to our people in a timely manner.”

“That’s the type of organized structure I’m talking about putting in place. Our own infrastructure. Trucking, refrigerated box cars. These are things that we can put together,” said Boyd.

He said under the new Trump regime, Black farmers have no choice but to be innovative and revolutionary.

“We’re getting our a— kicked,” he said.