Video Transcript:
Gene:
Hey, Chisel. How you doing, fella? All right. Now, don’t push too hard. All right. Okay.
Kent:
Today we’re visiting with several landowners whose families have been on these lands for generations.
We’re trying to show off how they’re being good stewards of their lands and managing their lands. that will help wildlife, but will also keep these lands in income producing to help promote the livelihoods of these farmers that live here in Northwest Florida and South Georgia.
Research shows small farms are linked to higher levels of biodiversity than large farms.
Black farmers and other historically underserved producers contribute to higher biodiversity.
Gene:
Oh, we see everything. Coyotes, we see all kinds of birds, like, Canadian geese, ducks, the big cranes, whole bunch of cattle egrets.
The hardest thing is not being paid properly for what you grow.
You know, we got, like I said, 300 acres here and there are not very many 300 acre farms. In fact, everybody on this road, all Black farmers, used to farm, and they were all under 300 acres.
But I’m the only one left. And I’m left because I work another job. I’m a computer consultant. The farm is not sustaining me.
Kent:
There are 1 million species on the brink of extinction. 70% of federally threatened and endangered species depend on private land for at least a part of their lifecycle.
Jack:
You know, I was born and bred on the farm. What I have here is, you know, just a 23 acre plot.
Today you know, the largest crop here is conservation pine trees, longleaf pine trees. But occasionally I see woodpeckers, you know, and red birds and blue jays, you know, that’s a beautiful bird.
And, and it’s awesome to come down, you know, this serenity here, it’s quiet you know, the farm is rewarding, it’s therapy.
And if you listen right now, if you listen, there’s a bird in the background.
Listen. (Bird singing)
And that’s therapy.
Many times the resources are not available to the small farmers. And that’s why you’re here today. Because of resources, there’s scarcity of resources. without those resources, you know, we have a big challenge, to produce or provide, what is needed, you know, coming from these small farmers.
James:
Alright, this is one of my little friends. I see probably 2 or 3 times a week when I’m coming down to check my cows.
And sometimes he’d be coming from the south, and sometimes he’d be coming from the north.
But, hey, I’ve got three more along that fence over there, and I don’t know why, but they’re like the quail I guess.
They like to put their little burrow right there.
My attitude is, I don’t really own this land. I’m just a caretaker until I go.
And I want to leave it better than what it was when I got it.
That’s just Jamesology again.
The challenge is being small, for one thing. You know, you can raise 200 head of cows are a lot easier and cheaper than you can 50, because you’re buying stuff at a bulk rate as opposed to in bags like I have to do a lot of time.
Kent:
It’s really been great meeting these farmers today.
Without their leadership and their stewardship of their lands protecting gopher tortoise burrows, you know, where 350 other species live in these burrows.
Without protecting the forest where wildlife can roam.
We are blessed with and inspired by these folks.
And we hope to inspire other folks and hopefully we’ll inspire our leaders to provide funding to help support the conservation programs that these landowners can take advantage of to become better stewards of their land.
stewards of their land.
If you’d like to learn more about you can help Defenders protect wildlife and how you can protect wildlife, please visit defenders.org.
Defenders Of Wildlife works on the ground, in the courts, and on Capitol Hill to protect and restore imperiled wildlife and habitats across North America.
Defenders Of Wildlife
