Black-owned farms have place on Chef Ke’s table

It’s an understatement to say West Virginia isn’t the most racially diverse place in the South. But when it comes to food production, the numbers are even drearier than I imagined.

According to the 2022 Census of Agriculture State Profile, out of 39,109 West Virginia farms, only 43—one eleventh of one percent—were owned by people who identified as Black or African American. By contrast, 3.7% of West Virginians identify as Black or African American.