Below is a letter initiated by farmer Willie Head from Pavo, Georgia. It was signed by farmers and farm families in the U.S. and two from Canada.
May 10, 2022
Greetings to National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba (ANAP) from farmers in the United States.
We send you warm greetings and solidarity from farmers in the United States on the 61st anniversary founding of ANAP and the 63rd anniversary of the First Agrarian Reform of the Cuban Revolution. The courage of Fidel Castro going forward with the workers and farmers and galvanizing them in unity, for six decades that historic accomplishment has been the foundation of the Cuban Revolution since January 1, 1959. Some of us have travelled to Cuba, talked with Cuban farmers, and have been able to see firsthand what a difference a revolution makes. The agrarian reform put an end in Cuba to the debt driven exploitation farmers are facing with intensifying effects here in the U.S. and around the world.
Farmers in the U.S. are facing farm foreclosures; rising prices for seeds, fertilizers, and other inputs; to soaring inflation that makes it impossible to make a living. Farmers who are Black are disproportionately being driven off the land by continuing government discrimination. What the rulers here fear most is your example of what can be accomplished by workers and farmers in a united struggle. We salute your example!
Congratulations on your anniversaries!
Willie M. Head
Cattle, vegetable farmer, Pavo, Georgia
Eddie Slaughter
Cattle, hay, vegetable farmer, Buena Vista, Georgia
Ben Burkett
Vegetable farmer, Petal, Mississippi
Larry Ginter
3rd Generation crop, livestock farmer (retired), Rhodes, Iowa
Will Scott Jr.
Vegetable farmer, row crops, Fresno, California
Paul Buxman
Stone fruit farmer, Dinuba, California
Bernard Bates Family Ava, Karla, Theo, Terrie, and Brad Sr.
Nicodemus Descendant Legacy Black Farmers,
Nicodemus, Kansas
Robert J. Smith
Produce farmer, Petal, Mississippi
Byron Travis
Produce farmer, New Augusta, Mississippi
Darnella Winston
Cow, vegetable farmer, Church Hill, Mississippi
Daniel Teque
Row crop farmer, Sallas, Mississippi
Willie E. Adams
Dairy, poultry, livestock farmer, Greensboro, Georgia
Karl Butts
Vegetable farmer, Plant City, Florida
Paul Plouffe
11th Generation Dairy Farmer, Bridport, Vermont
George Naylor
Organic corn, soybeans, oats, and apples farmer,
Churdan, Iowa
Morris and Linda Varcoe
Grain farmers, Clavet, Saskatchewan, Canada