Black Farmers’ Lives Matter:

Defending African-American Land and Agriculture in the Deep South
Ben Burkett on his farm in Petaluma, Mississippi, with his great-nephew. Photo courtesy of Grassroots International.
“[Monsanto will] take you to court and make you pay back their money. Basically you’re just sharecropping for them, you’re leasing their seeds.”
“They’ve got a unique way of buying you off to not fight here. The American consumer doesn’t care as long as it’s cheap. But no matter what farmers plant, the consumer’s got to change the system. People buying the end product have to complain. As long as they don’t complain, there’s no need even talking about it.”