Will Scott was born on a farm and raised by sharecroppers.
But instead of becoming a farmer like his father and grandfather, Scott went to school, fought in the Vietnam War and worked at Pacific Bell as an engineer. Now in his seventies Scott has become something rare — a full time African-American farmer.
“It’s kind of like something is put into you, that comes out sooner or later,” says Scott.
Scott is emblematic of a greater trend of farmers across America. The small farmer is an endangered breed in the U.S., only one percent of the U.S. population claim farmer as their occupation. And for black farmers the numbers are more drastic, they now make up just one percent of the entire American farmer population. The black farmer is nearly extinct.
Between the 1940s and 1970s, droves African-Americans left the South, heading North and West. Their primary occupation in the South was sharecropping, the serf-like agriculture system. But by leaving the south for a better life in the northern cities, many left behind the tradition of growing their own and taking pride in it. Now some food advocates worry the overall decline of the black farmer is effecting how the black community get their food and moreover what they are eating.
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“Well they got out of farming, because farming is hard work,” says Scott. “Also we had availability to get land and that was denied, so most of them didn’t go to it.
When still working for Pacific Bell, he bought two acres of land in Fresno, with plans to build his dream home. But while he waited for that dream home to become a reality, he didn’t want to his new land to just sit there. So he started to go out and tractor and disc the land, so it looked nice. Then he thought he should grow some vegetables. He started with his favorite black-eyed peas.
“Then the neighbors kind of liked them,” says Scott. “And then we started selling them to the neighborhoods.”
What started with just some black-eyed peas grew into crops of okra, tomatoes, collard greens, plums, nectarines, and this year cranberry peas.
In 1999 when Scott retired he went into farming full time. He now has forty-acres and is president of the association African-American Farmers of California.
Scott says even in a state like California it was hard for African-Americans to gain access to land and the licenses needed to farm due to racial discrimination.
Some food advocates argue that the great migration out of the south is now having effects on how black people are eating, because there are such a limited number of black farmers growing food and bringing it to black neighborhoods.
In West Oakland, a low-income predominately and African-American community of Oakland, California, there is only one grocery store in the same radius as seventy liquor stores. This is the reason Oakland food advocate David Roach decided to start a Farmers Market there ten years ago.
”[...] The farmers needed a way of getting more visibility in a community,” Roach said.
Will Scott has been participating in Roach’s Mo’ Better Farmers Market in West Oakland for years, bringing fresh black-eyed peas and collard greens that grandmothers cherish.
Scott and Roach’s relationship caught the eye of Jay Foster, the chef and co-owner of San Francisco soul food restaurant Farmer Brown, known for its fried chicken and waffles brunches.
“I really wanted to get as close to the roots of what people call soul food,” says Foster. “And that meant trying to find and using whatever African-American sourced produce I could.”
It’s connections like these that keep a small farmer like Will Scott farming. But it remains to be seen who will take over for him, and who will continue to grow and bring traditional African-American food to neighborhoods, chefs, and people in need.
