John Wesley Boyd Jr. on the Bayer/Monsanto Merger

Published: July 16, 2017, 1 p.m.

JOHN WESLEY BOYD, JR. is the founder and President of the National Black Farmers Association, which he started in 1995. He is a fourth-generation black farmer from Baskerville, Virginia near the town of South Hill, Virginia. He has been chronicled by national media organizations including a Person of the Week profile on ABC World News Tonight, The Washington Post, and Roll Call newspaper which is influential on Capitol Hill. He owns and operates a 300-acre farm where he grows soybean, corn and wheat and currently raises a hundred head of beef cattle. He was an early supporter of Senator Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries and played an important role organizing African American voters. He has been named one of the "100 Most Influential Black Americans and Organization Leaders" by Ebony magazine several times. THE NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION has been a national voice on the issue of farm subsidies, arguing that black farmers are left out of the massive system of subsidies provided by the government. A 2007 report by Environmental Working Group found a widening gap between subsidies provided to white farmers and those provided to black farmers. Find out more at www.nationalblackfarmersassociation.org