Small farmers need access to a safety net amid challenges of climate change

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Growing up in a farming family in Cameroon, I knew the importance of the land to my life and to the lives of many others in my community.

I began farming here in Minnesota when I realized there was demand for fresh African vegetables and people wanted to trust how their food was being grown in the field.

Industrialization has brought a lot of chemicals and technology into farming. We have tried to make the system go faster and produce more than it is supposed to, and it has thrown the ecosystem off balance. I tell my kids that our human activities impact the way nature reacts and that is why you have to be responsible to the land.

Land is expensive, so I have been building my farming business on rented land for the past eight years. Today I farm about 11 total acres in three locations. I have been fortunate to find landowners willing to offer multiyear leases, but I am still holding back so much investment — such as a greenhouse and high tunnels that would increase my operation and make it easier to sustain through weather extremes — because I am on rented land.

The rain this year has been very hard for many farmers. At first, we were excited about it after three years of drought. But then the rain prevented us from getting into the fields to cultivate and plant. It delayed us past the time to plant certain crops and flooded other crops we had been able to plant. The crops tried to survive, but it has been a tough life for them. The rain gives weeds fuel to grow and gives us less time to intervene.

I work with 26 other farmers who are part of the African Immigrant Farmers Association. Last year, the locations where they rented land were vibrant with vegetables everywhere. This year they were all like swamps and they are going to walk away with nothing.

Many of these farmers depend on that income to survive the year. I have been getting phone calls from them asking what the options are for making up for what they have lost. There is really no good answer to that because the default would have been crop insurance, but many small farmers do not have crop insurance.

You might think it matters less because it is a small operation, but you have to think about the significance of the operation to that individual farmer. It means everything to them, just like the 2,000 acres of soybeans means something to that farmer with a lot more land. Why should bigger farms get all the support when losses happen?

Climate change is making the risks of farming a lot more challenging. We need better paths for small farmers to invest in for the long-term health of the land and access to a safety net for them when disaster strikes. There is enthusiasm and momentum in the immigrant farming community. These farmers want to practice regenerative agriculture, build profitable operations and bring back trust in our food system. This benefits everybody in society. We need policymakers to be leaders on solutions for small farmers.

Funwi Tita, owner of Better Greens LLC, farms in Otsego, Montrose and Medina, and is president of the Minnesota African Immigrant Farmers Association.