Program to Aid Minority Farmers

The Greenville County Historic and Natural Resources Trust, in partnership with Greenville Women Giving (GWG) and the South Carolina Farm Bureau Federation Land Trust (FBLT), has a special one-time program to aid farmers of color in protecting their lands via conservation easements.  According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data, in 1920 there were nearly one million African American families that owned rural farms and forests.  A century later, while the nation’s population had tripled, the number of farms and forests owned by people of color had declined by more than 95%!  Our search thus far of farms owned by African Americans in Greenville County suggests that the decline has been even more precipitous, with less than one percent (<1%) of farms and forests currently owned by people of color.

If you know a minority landowner who might be interested in reviewing the potential to protect their lands via a conservation easement while gaining significant up-front financial incentives, please direct them to the Trust or FBLT.

Cover image by: Frances Gunn on Unsplash