"The civil rights movement emboldened many black farmers to join cooperatives. It may have also provoked more discrimination by white-owned businesses against black farmers in commercial dealings. But, discrimination in some cases induced cooperative formation. In a time of interracial tensions, bulk purchasing of farm supplies or assembling member products for consolidated transactions enabled black farmers to minimize the frequency of their individual interactions with white merchants and product brokers. Cases of this mechanism are documented, where farmers’ access to supplies or markets were blocked when they were known to be members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)."
Thanks for sharing this. This reminds me of Dr. Booker T. Whatley starting the first known CSA as a way for Black farmers to get some income to kickstart a growing season because the USDA would not lend to them.