Saving Black Land with Cannabis: The Rise of 40 Acre Co-op

Black farmers in the United States have always faced a long uphill battle to make a living from farming and to hold onto their land. They have faced well documented discrimination by government agencies, banks, and physical violence from white supremacists. Systemic racism and the corporate consolidation of agriculture has resulted in a 95 percent reduction in the number of Black farmers since 1920. In 1920, Black farmers made up 14% of all farmers in the US, almost 1 million strong. Today, Black farmers in the US number barely 46,000, just 1.3% of all US farmers. As you read this, the Justice for Black Farmers Act, drafted to remedy a legacy of racial injustice against Black farmers, has been reintroduced for consideration by congress for a third time.

Forty Acre Co-op was born in 2019 in order to help Black farmers hold onto their land and take advantage of the new, and growing, legal market for Cannabis. It is the first national cooperative of Black farmers in the United States since the Colored Farmers’ National Alliance and Cooperative Union of the late 1800s. Forty Acre Co-op is supporting Black farmers grow high-CBD hemp in order to get a higher value product, access markets, raise the average income of Black farmers, recover Black land, and build generational wealth. They do this by pooling resources to access markets and supplies at a lower cost; helping obtain grower and processor licenses; and running a Hemp Incubator Program that provides support and mentoring for farmers from seed to shelf.

Join farmer members and staff of Forty Acre Co-op in conversation about their successes and challenges building a national cooperative of Black farmers in the US and creating a space for Black farmers in the growing cannabis industry.

This is part of a series of public conversations hosted by Collective Diaspora profiling Black cooperatives throughout the African diaspora.

Collective Diaspora

Collective Diaspora is a new membership-based organization of Black cooperatives and Black-led cooperative support groups across the African diaspora. We have come together to build a global Black solidarity economy. By deepening our connections with each other we make our cooperatives, organizations, and communities stronger and more resilient, building a global Black economy based on solidarity instead of exploitation.