WARE PLACE — On a recent brisk December morning, the rising sun is burning away fog that lingers low over Bryant Harrison’s brown and green fields.
Like most mornings, he starts around 5:45 with a prayer phone call with his local church. He heads outside to check on the dogs, then feeds his seven rambunctious goats as they bleat in greeting when he approaches with a bucket of feed.
Harrison, now 73 years old, was 21 when he decided he wanted to buy the farm next to his family’s property when it went up for sale.
To help him close the deal, his father deeded him 30 acres, and Harrison took out a loan in 1975 that was partially federally funded to help pay for the rest.
Little did he know that loan would make him one of thousands of farmers across the country to face racial discrimination from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Nearly 50 years later, the federal government has sought to make it right.
For decades, USDA-approved loans of lesser value for Black farmers compared to their White counterparts or refused them altogether.
Minority farmers reported limited access to credit and technical support. They struggled to fund farm operations, modernize equipment or expand. Other USDA loan recipients said money came too late or with strings attached for how it could be spent.
To address the discrimination, the USDA announced in July 2023 it was opening an application for a financial assistance program. Funded through President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, that program set aside $2.2 billion for farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced discrimination in USDA lending programs prior to January 2021.
More than a thousand farmers in South Carolina like Harrison received payments.
Black landowners were dwindling
Harrison was born without a birth certificate on Christmas Eve 1952 on his family’s farm, the tenth of 15 children born to a Baptist preacher and cotton sharecropper.
He spent his childhood tending the fields, hunting and damming up the creek to swim in during the summer. He attended segregated Bryson High School in Fountain Inn, then went on to Greenville Technical College in 1971.
Harrison and his wife, Margaret, grow sorghum, collard greens, sweet potatoes, broccoli, onions, squash and beets on their 107-acre farm surrounding their old yellow house.
Bryant describes them as “people of modest means.” He and Margaret maintain the farm themselves. The house is old and drafty at times.
“But we’ve made sacrifices for it,” he said. “For us, by far, our land is our greatest asset.”
To finance that asset over the years, Harrison used loans to buy seed and farm supplies. But by the time he would get the money, it would be almost too late to plant.
“I’m not saying that somebody held it up on my account, but that was just the way it worked,” Harrison said.
The constant delays coupled with a higher mortgage rate made it harder to pay for the farm.
The Harrisons tightened their belts, and they made it through.
Others were not so lucky.
Rising land costs and systemic injustices, like discrimination at federal agencies, contributed to a massive decline in Black land ownership over the last century.
In the past five years, the U.S. lost 7 percent of all farms. Black people lost the highest amount: nearly 13 percent, according to data from the most recent Census of Agriculture.
The losses were not met with inaction.
In 2023, the USDA partnered with organizations like local farm bureaus and agricultural extensions to spread the word about the financial assistance program. Bryant and Margaret attended a meeting in Orangeburg to learn more about it.
Harrison has a guiding philosophy in life: You have to pursue what you want, or you might miss the opportunity.
“I won’t complain about the crumbs that fall to the floor when I won’t eat what’s on the table before me,” he said.
Bryant filed an application in 2023. Then, he waited.
USDA issues millions to SC farmers
At the end of June, Bryant was out working in the field when Margaret called him.
“Hey, you got a check,” she told him.
Bryant was one of 1,371 South Carolinians to receive payment, totaling over $54 million statewide. More than 23,000 farmers across the U.S. were approved for payments up to $500,000, according to USDA. Another 20,000 who once planned to start a farm but did not receive a federal loan received up to $6,000.
“While this financial assistance is not compensation for anyone’s losses or pain endured, it is an acknowledgement,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a press release July 31. “My hope is that this will ensure that many farmers can stay on their farms, contribute to our nation’s food supply, and continue doing what they love.”
The Harrisons were thankful for the money, which added up to about $18,000. One of their tractors had broken down, so they used the cash to buy another lightly used John Deere model.
It was good to hear Vilsack acknowledge the department’s mistakes, Bryant said. But he does not view himself as a victim because of the color of his skin.
“I was glad to get the settlement that I got,” he said. “It was good, and if I hadn’t gotten it, my life would still be complete. I don’t hold any ill will toward anybody.”
The National Black Farmers Association, a nonprofit that has worked on this issue for decades, called the payouts a historic win.
“This victory marks a significant step towards justice for Black farmers, who have long been fighting against systematic discrimination in the farming industry,” the group said in a statement.
Despite the hardships, the Harrisons are proud of the life they’ve built on their farm.
As development encroaches, there are not many farmers left in the Upstate. Bryant and Margaret are finalizing a conservation easement to keep their land limited to agricultural use. They hope to pass it on to their four children and 10 grandchildren.
Bryant is hesitant to speak for all Black farmers in South Carolina. There are others, he said, who faced more difficult challenges.
“But this is one person’s experience,” Bryant said. “And I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience.”
