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| FARMER BROWN FINDS A FARM |
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| Friday, 15 June 2007 | ||||||||
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 Now he's got 20 more acres and is president of the African American Farmers AssociationÑa consortium of just 36 black growers scattered throughout the San Joaquin and Central Valley. Scott and his fellow farmers, who have historic roots in the area, came together ten years ago to cull their resources and use their numbers to get what they need to survive as small farmers. Historically, through economic and social barriers like racism, and now an aging population, black farmers have had a rougher ride than the usual struggle associated with the trade. Many have lost their farms due to loan discrimination and denial of federal programs through the USDA. A class action lawsuit filed by black farmers nationwide ended in 1999 with a $2.3 billion settlement from the USDA, who admitted to systematic racism against black farmers. (It gave farmers who came forward as much as fifty thousand dollars as restitution. Some are still collecting.) For this and other reasons, African-American farmers have little trust in accessing the government-run programs that could aid them. They tend to be gun shy, resigned to the idea that one must struggle on one's own. Take Al Smith, former president of the AAFA, whose family moved to Fowler in the Central Valley from Liberia in 1912 (after Marcus Garvey's Liberian airlift), opening a dairy and farming alfalfa, corn, and grapes. "When I tell people I'm a farmer, they are shocked. They say, ÔWhat do you really do? Do you have a garden?' And I tell them I farm 100 acres!" And that image follows farmers like Smith into the banks and onto applications for loans. "Imagine if you go into a bank for a loan and no one believes you are a farmer?" Scott admitted it was even hard to find farmers to join their organization. "They just keep to themselves," he said. The lawsuit, however, left a list of 20,000 people that became a resource for the organization and for people like Ken Grimes, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, an extension of the USDA, who reaches out to help these farmers organize and get access to the programs and markets they need. So last fall on Mandela Parkway, a barren stretch of land in West Oakland that is home to the Mo' Better Foods Farmers' Market, I bought some fresh black-eyed peas for the first time in my life. A New York chef friend, born in Tennessee, was visiting and craved them. Proving that California could provide any produce he desired, I gifted him a pound direct from Scott's farm. "This is rare," Foster told me. "You can't get southern greens or peas in California." This year Scott is growing other southern specialties for his new market and for Foster, who is nurturing his cultural cuisine by finding and supplying Scott with rare seeds (with the aid of CUESA). Try crowder peas, lady peas, and pole beans, as well dandelion, turnip, young tender collard greens, okra, and peppers). For the tomatoes, Scott waits until the first frost to collect his green tomatoes that fall from the vine, which Foster then transforms into chutney or chow chow, an African-American pickled relish that goes on just about anything. Come watermelon season, Scott will deliver Tom Watson's, a southern watermelon variety that is smaller and sweeter than its zeppelin-like cousin. Perfect for those watermelon margaritas at the restaurant. So consider the black-eyed pea next time you walk through the Tenderloin on your visit to Farmer Brown and remember what Foster told me, "Sometimes it takes crossing a desert to reach an oasis." You'll know what I mean when you get there. Farmer Brown 25 Mason @ Market San Francisco 415-409-FARM www.farmerbrownsf.com The Mandela Farmers' Market 7th Street and Mandela Parkway; West Oakland 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. every Saturday http://www.mobetterfood.com  Andrea Blum is San Francisco based freelance journalist who writes about food and agriculture for various magazines including Saveur and Gourmet. She will spend her summer in southwestern France learning the art of cheese affinage. You can read her summer blog at www.sloefood.blogspot.com
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