The Battle for Shelton Muhammad’s Family Farm in Southampton County, Virginia: In Memory of Nat Turner
In 2009, we were asked by a Black farmer and his wife if we would consider purchasing their farm in Southampton County, Virginia, historically known as the place where Nat Turner was born, fought, and died to free our people from our former slave masters. At that time, I was working as an assistant principal and pursuing my doctorate in Educational Leadership at Fayetteville State University, and my wife was a nurse who also worked in North Carolina.
Although we had done some gardening in the past, we never had any plans to buy a farm. The family that owned the farm wanted it to stay in the hands of Black people, as it had been for many generations. The fact that the farm had an existing commercial contracted poultry operation suggested that we would have a source of revenue to maintain, sustain, and advance the farm and potentially build generational wealth.
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In 2010, we were blessed to purchase the farm, and immediately, until this present time, we have been under attack. We initially believed that it was just a couple of weak, envious southern rednecks who hated any progress being made by Black people who worked to sabotage our operation, but now we know of the greater conspiracy and the major actors who worked for centuries to destroy all Black farmers and Black-owned farms.
The purpose of this writing is to expose the major players in this battle over our farm, the motive behind the enemy, and the plan of the enemy as it has been revealed, to take our farm. Present our response to the enemy’s plan, but most importantly, we would like to demonstrate our faith and trust in God, who is present and who has promised us victory over all of our enemies.
The major players in this battle representing the Government of the United States are members of the Department of Agriculture (USDA), Farm Service Agency FSA, Southampton County Officials, and their lawyers, and scared-to-death negroes who work for these agencies against Black farmers.
The true motive of the enemy, who knows the scriptures, is not to let the Black man establish farming industries independent of our former slave-masters and their children. They are fully aware of this promised land, as mentioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., from God to us, the Black man and woman of America, that we will inherit and become the masters here where we were once slaves. Therefore, the enemy cannot allow us to have the basic requirement for freedom, “land”, and become productive and an independent people. Since we were emancipated, the enemy has engaged in “Covert Economic Warfare” against Black farmers, resulting in the loss of Black farmers and Black-owned farmland.
The plan of the enemy against us here, as it has been revealed, was to destroy us financially, crippling our ability to maintain and sustain our day-to-day farming operation, and our ability to meet the needs of our basic living expenses, and to conceal and immediately disqualify us for an annual commercial contracted poultry operation loan that is essential for commercial farming operations to be successful.
Destroying us financially would cause us financial hardships and distress, resulting in what they hoped would be a diminishing desire for the farm, loss of hope in advancing the farm, and then either selling or losing the farm due to lack of revenue to pay the mortgage or real estate taxes. But most importantly, they also wanted to kill any desire in my family, especially my sons, for farming and for them to pursue other endeavors.
The American farming industry was devastated by certain historical events some of which include: the Civil War which took place from 1861-1865 between the North and the South, the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation to free our ancestors from slavery, the destruction of the cotton crops by the infestation of boll weevil between 1892-1925, the Great Migration from 1910-1970 by our ancestors to escape sharecropping in the south to the north, the devastation of the dust bowel between 1930-1940, and the great depression from 1929-1939 or 1941.
Because of these destructive historical events, America needed a way to maintain and support the American farming industry. In 1937, as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal, the Farm Security Administration was established to provide much-needed access to credit for the American farming industry. It provided low-interest loans to farmers who could not obtain credit elsewhere, specifically to help them meet daily operational expenses and remain on their land during the Great Depression.
The American farming industry today relies heavily on annual operational loans to manage day-to-day expenses essential for maintaining and growing agricultural operations. These loans are specifically designed to cover routine costs such as seed, fertilizer, feed, fuel, crop protection, and labor critical for planting, growing, and harvesting crops or raising livestock. These operating loans bridge the financial gap between seasonal expenses and income generated from harvests or sales, allowing farmers to maintain cash flow throughout the year. The loans are typically repaid after the sale of the crop or livestock, aligning repayment with the farm’s revenue cycle. The loan structure minimizes interest charges to only the funds used and the time they are borrowed, making it a cost-effective solution compared to long-term financing.
Most of the commercial farmers in Southampton County, Virginia, rely heavily on these annual farming operational loans due to the nature of commercial farming, when there are months from planting to harvest before a farmer can sell his crops for revenue to maintain his farming operation, pay employees, purchase farming equipment, and maintain their essential living expenses. It’s virtually impossible to engage in commercial farming without the essential critical support to commercial farmers offered today by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) through the Farm Service Agency (FSA).
The USDA Farm Service Agency is supposed to offer these same types of annual farm operating loans to support commercial contracted poultry farmers, including those managing chicken houses. These loans are to cover essential production costs that are incurred before revenue is generated from the sale of finished birds. These loans are critical for managing the cash flow gap that arises due to the delayed revenue stream in contract broiler production, where income is received only after a flock is completed and sold, typically after a 60-day growing period. During this time, farmers must pay for utilities, labor, feed, and other operational expenses, which can amount to high costs. Farm Operating Loans, administered by the USDA’s Farm Service Agency (FSA), are specifically designed to help farmers cover these expenses.
This essential support, the annual commercial contracted poultry operation loan, was willfully and intentionally concealed and never provided to us for 16 years as we struggled mightily to operate our commercial contracted poultry farming operation. Our enemies, who work in the Southampton County USDA Farm Service Agency loan department, used it against us as a primary tool in this “covert economic war” to destroy us financially. The enemy knew that to cripple us financially, simultaneously destroying our poultry houses, would immediately disqualify us for the essential annual commercial contracted poultry operational loan, even if we had known about them and applied. They planned, however, to offer us assistance to fix the houses and service our mortgage debt, which would also disqualify us for the annual commercial contracted poultry operational loan. This plan had been in place unexpectedly for 16 years, from 2010 to 2026.
By denying us the annual commercial contracted poultry operational loan, they knew it would have a direct impact on our managing the day-to-day farming operation and our farm specifically, paying workers, utility bills, electric bills, mortgage, real estate taxes, farm repairs, home repairs, and equipment repairs. It has hindered our ability to sustain and maintain a consistent, productive farming operation, advance our farm, diminish our physical and mental strength, and affect our spiritual well-being.
But by God’s permission, recently, a white commercial farmer discussed with me how they (white commercial farmers in Southampton County, Virginia) maintain and sustain their farms using annual commercial farm operation loans. Now the secret was revealed, what was hidden in the dark has now been brought to the light.
Therefore, we need your support to help us to simultaneously qualify for this essential farming annual operation loan as well as establish an agribusiness model in Southampton County, Virginia, which we call “The Farm Store Market,” which will help Black farmers maintain and sustain their farms, create jobs for our people, and provide better quality food to our communities.
We believe we are engaged in a final battle for Muhammad Family Farm with the forces that have historically destroyed Black farmers and their farms. In 1831, the Nat Turner insurrection here in Southampton County, Virginia, sent shockwaves throughout America, and so will this victory send shockwaves throughout America, as it unites Black farmers with our communities and vice versa.
Please support this final battle here in Southampton County, Virginia, and help Black farmers by donating whatever you can to this fight.
Donations can be made using:
Cash App: $sheltonmuhammadfarm
Zelle: 757-556-2381
Or by sending a check or money order made payable to:
Muhammad Family Farm
33181 The Hall Road
Branchville, VA 23828
There is also a GoFundMe page at the link below:
https://gofund.me/6ef20c5c
For additional information or questions, send an email to muhammadfamilyfarm@gmail.com
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