In November 2020, staff from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) contracted the Latino Economic Development Center (LEDC) for help dispersing $340,000 in CARES ACT funding to Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) agricultural producers and workers in Minnesota who had been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Under a tight timeline for disbursement, LEDC worked within its network of contacts in Greater Minnesota to distribute $212,500 to 47 agricultural producers (grant amount of $4,500 each) and $133,000 to 133 agricultural producers (grant amount of $1,000 each), according to a report published by LEDC.
LEDC worked primarily within a known network of agricultural workers developed by staff member Mónica Segura-Schwartz, who has been in touch with workers at Pilgrim’s Pride, Jenni-O, and Long Prairie Packing. Monica has worked in Todd, Stearns, Morrison, and Otter Tail counties for the last few years and has extensive contacts there. Monica’s position was created with funding from The Initiative Foundation in Little Falls thanks to a grant from the Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP).
She also works closely with Central Minnesota Community Empowerment Organization, a Somali-run non-profit with ties to Agricultural Workers in those counties.
Of the agricultural worker funding recipients, 108 were Latino and 25 were Somali, the report found. Although the vast majority of funds were dispersed by December 10th, LEDC received a contract extension to disperse funds through December 30th.
“Many applicants actually reported having more hours of work because of essential worker demands,” according to the report. “However, many applicants cited incurring more childcare costs due to the closing of schools and daycare centers.”
The report also found that virtually all applicants cited a high level of stress and anxiety due to the need to be on the frontlines of the food industry during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, LEDC staff members Aaron Blyth and Rodrigo Cala tapped into a strong network of Latino and BIPOC agricultural producers they have worked with for over 10 years. LEDC also relied heavily on a network of partner organizations to help identify qualified candidates, including the Hmong American Farmers’ Association, Hmong American Partnership, Big River Farms, Midwest Farmers of Color, The Good Acre, The Land Stewardship Project and Minnesota Department of Agriculture.
Over half of the 47 farms that received funds came from Ramsey and Hennepin counties (32). The vast majority of these farms were growers who lived in the metro-area but leased land in surrounding counties. Many of them reported losing over $10,000 in revenues due to the closing of farmer’s markets and the loss of large farm-to-school opportunities.
Of the agricultural producer funding recipients, 28 were Hmong, 10 were Latino, and seven were African American. One Indigenous farm and one white-owned farm also received funds.
If additional funding becomes available, LEDC would work to connect with more Indigenous communities and with farmers in Western and Southwestern Minnesota. It is also clear that many of the BIPOC farmers that we gave grants to would have had trouble accessing this program on their own, the report says.
“Language barriers and having the requisite paperwork to access grant money from the state is a large problem,” the report adds. “There is a lot of work to do to invest in BIPOC producers and this funding was a great step towards a more inclusive farming community here in Minnesota.”
