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Scope.--The statistics presented in this chapter relate only to farm operators. Negroes employed on farms as laborers or wage hands, domestic servants, etc., are not included. In some of the tables, statistics are presented for colored operators. The value of these statistics relating to the aggregate colored, as statistical indicators of conditions and tendencies among Negro farm operators varies from State to State, as the proportion of colored other than Negro varies in the aggregate of colored farm operators. However, in the United States as a whole, 96.4 percent of all colored farm operators were Negro in 1930. In the South as a whole and in each Southern State, with the exception of Oklahoma, the colored other than Negro constitute a negligible proportion among colored farm operators. In 1930, Negroes constituted 98.8 percent of all the colored farm operators in the South. In no Southern State, except Oklahoma, was the proportion of Negroes in the aggregate of colored farm operators less than 97 percent.
Statistics in some of the tables relate only to the South. Of all Negro farm operators, 98.7 percent were in the South in 1930.
Number of farm operators.--In 1930, there were 882,850 Negro farm operators in the United States. Negro farm operators constituted 14 percent of all farm operators while the Negro population represented 9.7 percent of the total population. There were Negro farmers in every State and in more than two-thirds of all the counties in 1930. Of the 882,859 Negro farm operators, 98.7 percent were in the South, 1.3 percent in the North, and 0.1 percent in the West.
Between 1920 and 1930, the number of Negro farm operators decreased 4.6 percent. The number of Negro farm operators in the North and West increased but decreased in the South. Within the South itself, there was a decrease of 22.6 percent in the number in the South Atlantic division and increases of 12.4 percent and 4.4 percent in the West South Central and East South Central divisions, respectively.
Farm acreage in 1930.--Negroes operated 3.8 percent of all land in farms in the United States. The acreage in farms operated by Negroes decreased 9.3 percent during the decade, 1920-30. The average acreage per farm operated by Negroes was 42.6 as compared with 176 for white farm operators.
In the South, the acreage in farms operated by Negroes represented 10.7 percent of all land in farms and acreage from which crops were harvested on farms operated by colored operators constituted 18.9 percent of the total crop land from which crops were harvested.
Value of farm land and buildings.--The value of land and buildings for farms operated by Negroes in 1930 was $1,402,945,799. This value was 37.9 percent less than the value reported for farms operated by Negroes in 1920. The average value of land and buildings per farm was $1,589 in 1930 as compared with 82,439 in 1920. The average value per acre of land and buildings on farms operated by Negroes decreased from $54.49 in 1920 to $37.32 in 1930, or a decrease of 31.5 percent. The average value per acre in 1930 was greater in the North and West than in the South.
Value of farm implements and machinery.-The value of implements and machinery on farms operated by Negroes was $60,327,856 or an average of $68 per farm.
Value of farm dwelling.--The value of the dwelling on farms operated by Negroes and for which dwelling was reported was less than $500 on 82.9 percent of the farms, between $500 and $999 on 13.7 percent of the farms, and between $1,000 and $1,999 on 2.8 percent of the farms.
Term of occupancy of colored farm operators.--In 1930, of the colored farm operators in the South who reported the number of years they had been operating the farm, 23.6 percent had been on the farm which they were operating less than 1 year; 16.7 percent had been on the farm, 1 year; 22.1 percent, 2 to 4 years; 14.4 percent, 5 to 9 years; and 23.1 percent, 10 years and over.
Farm facilities on farms operated by colored operators.--Telephones were reported on 0.5 percent of all farms operated by colored operatores; electric lights, 0.3 percent; and water piped into dwellings, 0.3 percent, in 1930. There was an average of 4.7 colored farm operators for every automobile reported on farms operated by colored operators in the South in 1930.
Selected farm expenditures on farms operated by colored operators.--In 1930, of all colored operators in the South, 32.3 percent reported expenditures for feed, 18.2 percent reported expenditures for farm labor, 14.1 percent, reported expenditures for farm implements and machinery, and 50.7 percent reported expenditures for fertilizer for 1929.
Cooperative sales and purchases on farms operated by colored operators.--In the South, 1.1 percent of the colored farm operators reported sales through farmers' cooperative organizations in 1929. The average sales of products per farm reporting was $674. Approximately 0.6 percent of the colored farm operators in the South reported purchases through farmers' cooperative organizations. The average value of the products purchased was $129.
Livestock on farms operated by colored operators.-- In the South, of the farms operated by colored opera- tors 73.9 percent reported horses and/or mules. 47.1 percent reported cattle, and 57.8 percent reported swine in 1930. There were almost three times as many mules as horses on farms of colored operators in the South in 1930. Milk was reported as produced on only 13.1 percent of the farms operated by colored operators in the South.
Production of cotton, tobacco, and other crops on farms operated by colored operators.--In 1929 there was produced on farms operated by colored operators 32.4 percent of the total cotton produced in the South, 24.9 percent of the sweet potatoes, 18.9 percent of the tobacco produced, 16.4 percent of the total corn harvested for gram, 10.1 percent of Irish potatoes produced, 2.2 percent of the oats thrashed for grain, and 1.7 percent wheat threshed. Cotton was reported as produced on 83.5 percent of all the farms operated by colored operators in the South. corn for grain on 78.8 percent, sweetpotatoes and yams on 34.2 percent, wheat on 3,5 percent, Irish potatoes on 16.5 percent, tobacco on 8 percent, and oats threshed on 0.8 percent.
CONTINUE TO PART II
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