Understanding the challenges faced by Michigan’s family farmers: race/ethnicity and the impacts of a pandemic

Abstract

Michigan is a critical agricultural state, and small family farms are a crucial component of the state’s food sector. This paper examines how the race/ethnicity of the family farm owners/operators is related to farm characteristics, financing, and impacts of the pandemic. It compares 75 farms owned/operated solely by Whites and 15 with People of Color owners/operators. The essay examines how farmers finance their farm operations and the challenges they face doing so. The article also explores how the Coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic affected farming operations, the financial viability of farms, and how farmers responded to the challenges posed by the pandemic. The study found that People of Color farm owners/operators were younger than White farm owners/operators. The People of Color farm owners/operators tended to manage smaller farms for shorter periods than White farm owners/operators. Though two-thirds of the Farmers of Color owned their farms, they were more financially vulnerable than White farm owners/operators. The farmers studied had difficulty obtaining loans to finance their farms. Farmers reported increasing requests from people for food assistance during the pandemic. Farmers responded to the pandemic by participating in government programs such as the Farm to Families Food Box Program that purchased their produce. It allowed farmers to supply emergency food assistance programs with products from their farms. The products went to families receiving food assistance from soup kitchens, food banks, and other community-based nonprofits.

Farm resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic: The case of California direct market farmers

“…Reports surfaced during the pandemic showing that BIPOC farmers (Black, Indigenous, and persons of color) were more vulnerable to its disruptions ( Rappeport, 2022 ; Ricker, 2020 ; Taylor et al, 2022 ), and several of our models show a similar effect of race. Race is white emerged as an important, positive predictor of resilience in the individual characteristic models: change in profitability was positive and significant at the >1% level and ability to respond to the pandemic at the 6% level.…”

“… N Mean St. Dev. Expected relationship with resilience Supporting literature Race is white (Yes = 1) 339 0.78 0.42 + ( Bowens, 2015 ; Minkoff-Zern and Sloat, 2017 ; Ricker, 2020 ; Taylor et al, 2022 ) Gender is male (Yes = 1) 339 0.46 0.50 + ( Fraser et al, 2005 ; Jones-Bitton et al, 2020 ) Under 55 years old (Yes = 1) 334 0.55 0.50 +/− ( Darnhofer, 2010 ; Mase et al, 2017 ; Peerlings et al, 2014 ) First generation farmer (Yes = 1) 340 0.68 0.47 − ( Holt-Giménez, 2002 ; Munden-Dixon et al, 2018 ) Online farmer network participant (Yes = 1) 341 0.06 0.24 + ( Carlisle, 2016 ; Šūmane et al, 2018 ) Farm age 331 20.13 22.47 + ( Darnhofer, 2010 ; Holt-Giménez, 2002 ; Kautsky, 1988 ; Mann and Dickinson, 1978 ) Crop and livestock diversity index (0−22) 344 3.17 2.13 + ( Bowles et al, 2020 ; A. S. Davis et al, 2012 ; Maggio et al, 2018 ; Perrin et al, 2020 ; Petersen-Rockney et al, 2021 ; Tamburini et al, 2...…”

A Vanishing Food Infrastructure: The Closure of Food Outlets in Flint in a Pandemic Era

“…Our research team has documented how e-commerce or online shopping has changed food access in several papers ( Taylor et al, 2021 ; Taylor, Bell, et al, 2022 ; Taylor, Farias, et al, 2022 ; Taylor, Wright, et al, 2022 ; Taylor, Thompson, et al, 2022 ). These studies suggest that we need to understand more about what the shift to e-commerce and online food shopping means for food insecurity and the viability of neighborhood grocery stores.…”

“…Scholars have examined the pandemic’s impacts on the state of Michigan and several of its cities. Such studies include challenges faced by Michigan’s family farmers ( Taylor, Farias, et al, 2022 ); access to emergency food assistance in Michigan ( Taylor, Wright, et al, 2022 ); emergency food assistance to children in Flint ( Jablonski et al, 2021 ); the use of community gardens to enhance food access in Michigan ( Taylor, Thompson, et al., 2022 ); the operation and roles of farmer’s markets in Michigan’s rural and urban areas ( Taylor et al, 2021 ), and in low-income urban areas ( Montri et al, 2021 ); and racial and socioeconomic disparities in access to food outlets in Flint ( Taylor, Bell, et al, 2022 ).…”

The resilience and viability of farmers markets in the United States as an alternative food network: case studies from Michigan during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified interest in studying the resilience of the CFR to shock events (e.g. Blay-Palmer 2020 ; Gordon 2020 ; King et al 2022 ; Oncini 2021 ; Taylor et al 2022a , b ), given the nature of the shock (public health), and the effect of COVID-19 on crops beyond those commonly studied in the resilience literature (Davis et al 2021 ). Early in the pandemic, supply chains across multiple sectors experienced acute breakdowns.…”