Etienne C. Toussaint (University of South Carolina, Joseph F. Rice School of Law) has posted The Spirit of Oligarchy in American Agriculture on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
Black farm ownership has declined by more than 90% since the 1920s, making it one of the starkest yet least examined examples of racial injustice in American history. This Essay argues that these losses are not the product of isolated discriminatory acts, but the consequence of a durable agricultural oligarchy: a system of concentrated economic, political, and cultural power that has structured American agriculture since the antebellum era. By tracing this oligarchic order across slavery, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and modern agribusiness, the Essay situates the struggles of Black farmers within the constitutional and political economy dimensions of American governance. In so doing, this Essay makes three contributions to legal scholarship. First, it reframes the exploitation, land expropriation, and erasure of Black farmers as constitutional failures to guarantee republican government by permitting oligarchic control of land, credit, and markets. Second, it links the Pigford v. Glickman settlements to recent federal initiatives, including the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, revealing persistent resistance to redistributive agricultural reform. Third, it critiques Wynn v. Vilsack and related cases, showing how colorblind constitutionalism entrenches oligarchic power and impedes remedies for systemic inequities. Building on the USDA Equity Commission’s 2024 recommendations, the Essay advances a structural framework for combining race-conscious and class-based reforms that address historical injustice while navigating constitutional limits. By situating agricultural discrimination within the broader problem of oligarchic power, the Essay highlights the stakes of agricultural equity for constitutional theory, democratic governance, and racial justice.
Recommended.
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