Bill Text: IL HR0046 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Urges the Illinois Department of Agriculture to study the effects and the types of land loss to Black farmers. Calls for state support and capacity building for Black farming communities across the state and a dedication to helping grow agriculture in rural, urban, and suburban areas. States that Black farmers can play a leading role in our local healthy food system and create regional networks of jobs, food, and opportunities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Passed) 2021-04-23 - Resolution Adopted 099-000-000 [HR0046 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2021-HR0046-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, In 1920, Illinois had 892 Black farmers, and | ||||||
3 | African-Americans owned 14 percent of the nation's farmland; | ||||||
4 | and
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5 | WHEREAS, As of the 2017 USDA Agricultural Census, there | ||||||
6 | are 188 individually Black-owned farms which make up a | ||||||
7 | combined 40,412 acres; out of the 116,417 agricultural | ||||||
8 | producers in Illinois, 267 are Black and 115,896 are | ||||||
9 | Caucasian; and
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10 | WHEREAS, According to the USDA's National Statistics | ||||||
11 | Service, as of April 2019, Illinois had 72,000 farms; | ||||||
12 | Illinois' farmland covers 27 million acres, which is | ||||||
13 | approximately 75% of the state's total land area; and
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14 | WHEREAS, As farming has become a big business, it has | ||||||
15 | become one of the least diverse businesses in our state; the | ||||||
16 | pressure to consolidate that has reduced the ranks of farmers | ||||||
17 | for the past century is making any turnaround unlikely; and
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18 | WHEREAS, The number of Black farmers in Illinois appears | ||||||
19 | destined to eventually be reduced to zero; the numbers are | ||||||
20 | dwindling across much of the Midwest; and
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1 | WHEREAS, The scarcity of African-American farmers stems | ||||||
2 | from our troubled history as well; racial discrimination | ||||||
3 | played a big role in driving Blacks off their land in southern | ||||||
4 | states; for sharecroppers, farming was associated with the | ||||||
5 | poverty and backbreaking labor of slavery; for those who owned | ||||||
6 | land, unequal treatment made it difficult to retain the | ||||||
7 | property and earn a living; as recently as the mid-1990s, | ||||||
8 | white farmers who agreed to sell crops would routinely get | ||||||
9 | better prices at market; and
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10 | WHEREAS, In a landmark legal settlement, the U.S. | ||||||
11 | Agriculture Department acknowledged that it had abused Black | ||||||
12 | farmers for generations when agents approved only a fraction | ||||||
13 | of financing requests, delayed loans until after the planting | ||||||
14 | season, and withheld other key payments; and
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15 | WHEREAS, Only in a few southern states have the ranks of | ||||||
16 | Black farmers shown a notable increase; therefore, be it
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17 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
18 | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
19 | we urge the Illinois Department of Agriculture to study the | ||||||
20 | effects and the types of land loss to Black farmers from post | ||||||
21 | slavery until now; and be it further
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22 | RESOLVED, That we call for state support and capacity |
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1 | building for Black farming communities across Illinois and a | ||||||
2 | dedication to helping grow agriculture in rural, urban, and | ||||||
3 | suburban areas to meet food access demands and increase | ||||||
4 | economic resilience in vulnerable food desert communities; and | ||||||
5 | be it further
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6 | RESOLVED, That Black farmers can play a leading role in | ||||||
7 | our local healthy food system and create regional networks of | ||||||
8 | jobs, food, and opportunities; and be it further
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9 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
10 | delivered to the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the | ||||||
11 | National Black Farmers Association.
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