Black farmers were deliberately sold 'fake seeds' in scheme to steal their land: repo

[applegrove]

BOB BRIGHAM at Raw Story

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/07/black-farmers-deliberately-sold-fake-seeds-scheme-steal-land-report/

"SNIP......

Black farmers in the Mid-South region surrounding Memphis used science to uncover a multi-million scheme to put them out of business and steal their farmland, WMC News reported Tuesday.

At the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show show in March of 2017, African-American farmers believe that Stine Seed Company purposefully sold them fake seeds.

Thomas Burrell, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, explained how black farmers were receiving one-tenth of the yield as their white neighbors.

“Mother nature doesn’t discriminate,” Burrell said. “It doesn’t rain on white farms but not black farms. Insects don’t [only] attack black farmers’ land…why is it then that white farmers are buying Stine seed and their yield is 60, 70, 80, and 100 bushels of soybeans and black farmers who are using the exact same equipment with the exact same land, all of a sudden, your seeds are coming up 5, 6, and 7 bushels?”

.......SNIP"

[Horse with no Name]

1. I hope they sue the shit out of this company

the government should intervene but we know they won't.

[onecaliberal]

2. Those assholes need to be sued out of existence.

[a kennedy]

3. Yes, this is just so disturbing......

so unfair.....and should be prosecuted.

[Blue_Tires]

38. And tossed into the state pen

[ellie]

4. Let them know via Twitter at

@StineSeed

God I love Twitter!

[lpbk2713]

5. Have the seeds or plants examined by a certified lab.

Don't go to court on rumors and guesswork. Then lower the boom on every
one of those assholes. What they did was rotten, so go for the jugular.

[hedda_foil]

13. They did and the lab confirmed it.

The full article is very interesting.

[greyl]

18. Are "experts at Mississippi State University" the qualified lab? nt

[Demsrule86]

30. Yes, fine agricultural school...

[exboyfil]

53. Land grant cow college

Most of my high school friends went there (I went to Purdue another land grant cow college). If my family situation had been different, I would have gone to MSU and probably had been happier. A very good school.

[appalachiablue]

6. EVIL

[Anon-C]

7. Here's their leadership:

http://www.stineseed.com/about/company-leadership/

[ancianita]

12. Thanks. All those fucking white dudes with dark, twisted souls. Fuck 'em.

Last edited Wed Jul 11, 2018, 02:01 PM - Edit history (1)

[erronis]

45. While I agree with your use of those B/W terms we should be careful about imputation

"White" in this context is the Anglo-Saxon (sometimes Protestant) who think that they are directly descended from some great aryan race, all the way back to the beginning of time (genesis) with no dalliances along the way.

"Black" is used as a negative when referring to thoughts/souls. Altho this is frequent in literature, the juxtaposition in this title is striking.

How about changing this to "All those fucking white dudes with shitty souls. Fuck 'em."

Of course dung beetles love those shitty souls...

[ancianita]

48. You are SO right, and I usually avoid using black as evil. Thank you for the reminder. Edited.

[Equinox Moon]

14. Thanks for the link.

They conveniently have a contact us page to email them with a comment or two.

[wellst0nev0ter]

62. Looks qWhite right n/t

[cpamomfromtexas]

8. Oh my. I hope they kick ass and take names.

[byronius]

9. Classic swindle. And only committed racists could do something like this.

Ugly ugly ugly. Hope they get justice for this.

[procon]

10. More than just the seed company was involved.

The seed company didn't profit off selling inferior seeds, it would have hurt their business if all the farmers had reason to be worried about low yield crops. This stinks like a massive conspiracy that had to involve, if not originate, with many of the white farmers who were looking to eliminate competition and grab up cheap farms after their black neighbors were forced into bankruptcy. The banks were probably also in on the scam because the farmers would have wanted to line up new loans and financing in advance to buy the farms.

[bdjhawk]

11. Another important story that will be buried by the "leebruhl" media

Seriously, this is complete racist BS! Need to call out not only racists but sleazy big businesses who most MAGAts believe are looking out for our best interests.

[Equinox Moon]

15. I thought I was reading a historical story, only to learn it is current!

[kag]

41. I thought so, too, Equinox.

When I saw "2017" I was shocked.

Those rat bastards need to have some karma dropped on their racist heads. I think those black farmers should sue for, and be awarded, all the land owned by Stine and all of the company's officers.

[renate]

44. I totally thought so too

I'm sure this has been going on forever and not just in the past two years, but it feels as though this is literally a different country and a different century than it was just a couple of years ago. I'm so depressed....

But! Thank goodness the technology exists now to prove the black farmers correct. That gives me some hope.

[appalachiablue]

50. Same here, I thought it was maybe 1880s or 1920s during Jim Crow.

This 'plan' reeks of conspiracy by nearby white farmers to cause deliberate harm to black owners so that their crops would fail, they would go out of business and into foreclosure. The properties became 'available' to white buyers. Underhanded, racist and despicable.

In another post here on recent suicide increase among Mid-Western farmers, it was mentioned that earlier in the 1980s during Reagan, farmers there also became financially and emotionally distressed and took their lives. *LIVE AID* concerts were held then then with Willie Nelson and others trying to publicize the problem and help struggling farmers.
During that time more and more of the Mid-West market was being taken over by powerful, large corporate-run farms. Some giant companies deliberately lowered their crop prices (which they could afford to do) to undercut local small farmers and make them to have to sell off their land which the larger companies would buy up to gain even larger share.

Selfish, greed-driven, toxic competitive behavior that keeps repeating by unregulated business and humans. Look at the last 30+ years of harmful, monopolistic business practices, namely mergers and acquisitions and consolidation in many US industries-- banking, retail, media, telecommunications, airlines and more.
It restarted with the Reagan administration ignoring the landmark Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 & 1914 opposing harmful business concentration and monopoly which is unhealthy to choice and competition. *Anti Trust Laws, FTC/Federal Trade Commission, https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/antitrust-laws

[shanti]

61. I told a black friend of mine

about this story, and he said that it was hardly the first time this kind of thing happened.

[wonkwest]

16. Criminal and civil lawsuit twofer incoming

Nice going, racist dipshits.

I'd say the DoJ needs to get in there immediately, but I somehow don't hold out too much hope on that one.

[dalton99a]

17. Stine Seed responds:

http://www.wmcactionnews5.com/story/38610463/black-farmers-intentionally-sold-fake-seeds-in-memphis-lawsuit-says

Stine Seed Company President Myron Stine issued the following statement addressing the lawsuit and the allegations his company intentionally sold bad seeds to black farmers:

“The lawsuit against Stine Seed Company is without merit and factually unsupportable. Stine takes seriously any allegations of unlawful, improper, or discriminatory conduct and is disturbed by the baseless allegations leveled against the company. Upon learning of these claims, the company took swift action to conduct an internal investigation, which has not revealed any evidence that would support these allegations. Stine intends to vigorously defend itself against this meritless lawsuit and has filed a motion to dismiss. Our focus is on continuing to serve all our customers with the highest degree of integrity and respect that are the bedrock of our company’s values.”

[Volaris]

20. That statement translated out of corporate-speak and into English means:

We're guilty as fuck and we know it AND were caught.

[roamer65]

19. I hope the Chinese tariffs put all the crackers involved in this swindle out of business.

[Anon-C]

51. Actually Soybean farmers especially have gotten the shaft by Trump.

[Snake Plissken]

21. They didn't do this to steal land they did this to steal their money.

The suit alleges that black farmers who attended the 67th Annual Mid-South Farm & Gin Show at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in March of last year bought more than $100,000 worth of Stine seeds. But the "certified" seeds the growers had paid for were switched with inferior ones at a warehouse near Sledge, Mississippi, according to the suit.

This was more than likely a situation where a sleazy salesman no different than Trump, specially targeted people who he felt would not have the means to come after him, in this case poor Black farmers, and baited them with high yield seed but switched it with seed that was primarily garbage that did not pass quality control and was targeted for disposal.

This is no different than Trump's fake university scam, where he targeted people in need of money specifically poor people who he felt would not have the resources or ability to fight in in court with a bait and switch scam.

[OnDoutside]

22. Surely you would have expected a reasonable amount of white farmers to have suffered, if that were

true ?

[Snake Plissken]

23. I don't understand the point you are trying to make

[OnDoutside]

24. The OP is suggesting they are out to steal the land of black farmers, you are suggesting, no this is

just a money shakedown, which suggests there was no racism involved. Wouldn't that imply there were farmers of all races who suffered ?

[Snake Plissken]

25. I never said no racism was involved ... you did

I said they targeted these people for their money and that they did not have the means to fight them, and not for them land.

Is there even a single shred of evidence this seed company purchased any land lost by Black farmers?

If so none of the articles I've seen mention it, maybe you can provide a link that shows that they purchased land lost by Black farmers.

[OnDoutside]

26. No, I queried whether you were suggesting racism wasn't involved, when clearly it was.

[Snake Plissken]

27. I never suggested that racism was not involved, though you keep trying to convince yourself I did

I said their primary motivation was money, and to think their motivation was anything other than money is laughable. They targeted poor Black farmers because they thought they would be an easy target which obviously involves racism

[PoorMonger]

54. Umm

Land is money to a farmer. Yes they want the money as a consequence of step one in a patently racist scheme.

But it can also be true that an ultimate aim is to drive the black farmers in the region out of business and in the end forcing them to sell land ( for far less than its worth) to be sold to white farmers at said discount and then selling them the higher yield seeds thereby making the land profitable again.

Though I haven’t done all the research as to specifics I believe that similar schemes were perpetrated against Native Americans in the past. Financial ruin proceeds the taking of land.

[Snake Plissken]

55. I have yet to be able to find a single article claiming that this seed company purchased any land

The people who sold these farmers garbage seed are just flat out scumbags. This is obviously a case of them targeting these Black farmers because they thought they can sell them garbage seed and get away with it, they felt these Black farmers were the easiest victims for them to prey on and get away with it, if they could have done it to White people, Native Americans, Asians, Hispanics, est. and felt they could get away with it, they would have targeted them too. Claiming the motivation was racial and not greed makes about as much sense as claiming a non White person breaking into houses in a wealthy gated community of White people is doing it because of racism and not because he could steal more valuable items there than if he were to break into houses in a less affluent community. The same claim can be made that only White people were targeted, but everyone knows that race was not the motivation.

[PoorMonger]

56. Why is it either or to you?

From where I sit, it’s clearly greedy and racist at the same time... ignoring the added racial element to the scheme serves no purpose whatsoever

You say they only targeted the black farmers because they were poor and easier targets — why is that ?

Because racism has been institutionalized in a society and justice system that then clearly affords black people with less resources and ready defenders to fight back. That’s still patently racist in its aim and practice.

[Snake Plissken]

57. The story sensationally claims that this seed company is doing this to steal Black farmers land

I see zero evidence of that, in fact after reading the 65 page court filing, I see zero evidence that this seed company did anything other than deliver the certified seeds to a distributor in Mississippi where the sealed bags of seed were emptied and refilled with an inferior product by their sleazy sales rep who delivered the fake seed and resold the quality seeds for a profit. These farmers got screwed by a lowlife conman, this con man may be a racist, but he also maybe just a generic scumbag, this reminds me of the pharmacist in Kansas City who diluted chemotherapy drugs for thousands of cancer patients, these people don't care who they target, they're in it strictly for the money.

[PoorMonger]

59. This is because

Like I said in my initial response ; for farmers their financial viability is always tied to the land they have. More than anything a farmer owns his or her land is their primary asset and without it they have nothing to work, good seed or bad.

If they are subsequently cheated and financially destroyed by it then a primary option for getting out from under it is selling the land and moving out. This kind of thing is not new and has been done in the past to both Native Americans and sharecroppers.

While the schemes first return will be to sell shitty seed the real coup can come later when ‘developers’ or other ‘more diserable’ farmers come in and get the land on the cheap.

[Snake Plissken]

60. I doubt this middleman who ripped them off cared about anything but getting the money in his pocket

I doubt this middleman who ripped them off cared about anything but getting the money in his pocket

The article is very deceiving because it leads you to believe that each farmer purchased his seed through independent individual orders and they were all shipped individually, when in fact it was all purchase on at a trade show and left in one big shipment from the factory.


If this was some conspiracy by a seed company to drive Black people or anyone else out of business by stealing their land, they would be facing criminal charges, this would not be a civil suit, it would be a criminal case then followed by a civil suit. Technically the FBI should be involved since it did cross state lines from Mississippi to Tennessee,

The court document specifies that the fraud took place in a 3rd party Mississippi warehouse, and not at the plant where the seed was shipped from. It was a middleman who ripped them off at a 3rd party facility in Mississippi and the seed company is also a plaintiff because they're the party who ultimately sold these farmers the seed, but if the FOB was at manufacturing plant and not the farmers property then it would be not longer the seed company's liability as soon as the seed left their dock, and

I wouldn't be surprised if this lowlife criminal was doing it to all his customers to a certain degree just like drug dealers cut their product, but this time he got carried away and mixed 100% garbage in.


A corrupt middleman ripping this farmers off is quite a bit different that a billion dollar seed company deliberately selling Black farmers bogus seed to drive them out of business.

[Demsrule86]

31. You are worried for a company that at the very least sold inferior seeds to customers who just

all happened to Black? Perhaps they are misunderstood (sarcasm). And people say there is no such thing as a coincidence (sarcasm)!

[malaise]

28. Some folks don't like to,call racism

Racism.
They used to burn out successful African-American businesses

[OnDoutside]

29. +1

[Phoenix61]

58. My first thought was who was the middle man

Seems like it was the warehouse. Makes perfect sense a bunch of racist asshats would target black farmers. Now they just need to find out who got the good seed. Shouldn't be too hard to figure out. The more people involved in a crime the more likely someone will blab.

[scarletlib]

32. Jesus H. F*****n Christ!

When will this s**t ever end? This makes me so angry. I can't speak without cursing.

[ck4829]

33. K&R

[BumRushDaShow]

34. Joe Madison covered this story this morning

and mentioned that he has had Burrell on his show in the past (I remember as it was about the Pigford II settlement and other issues).

The bottom line was that they had the seeds tested at the University of Mississippi to confirm that they apparently had a poor germination rate.

[Mc Mike]

35. There should be felony prosecutions of Stine Seed's employees. rec, nt

[Crunchy Frog]

36. Can this be prosecuted as a hate crime?

[BumRushDaShow]

40. Probably not

but could possibly result in a civil suit and possible USDA/FTC investigations.

[UCmeNdc]

37. I wonder how long this has been going on?

it must have been profitable for decades to steal black people's farms in this manner.

[BumRushDaShow]

42. Some interesting stats

For Decades, the USDA Was Black Farmers’ Worst Enemy. Here’s How It Became an Ally

Sylvia A. Harvey posted Jul 08, 2016

<...>

In 1920, the number of Black-operated farms peaked at nearly a million, accounting for 15 million acres of farmland—the size of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and New Jersey combined. They made up 14 percent of the country’s farmers.

The height of Black farming didn’t last. Faced with the economic and social barriers of the time and decades of racist and discriminatory policies, Black farmers spent the next century in decline. By 1982, their numbers were down to about 30,000—just 2 percent of the nation’s total. That same year, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights predicted that no Black farmers would remain by the year 2000.

But today, the number of Black farmers in the United States is suddenly growing again. In 2012, there were more than 44,000 of them, up about 15 percent from 10 years earlier. Nationally, they were still less than 2 percent of the country’s farmers, but their growth is noteworthy after such an extensive decline. Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Florida all show gains, while Texas takes the lead with a gain of more than 2,500 Black farmers.

/image

Policy changes at the USDA seem to be driving the recovery. Those changes come after decades of criticism. In 1965, the Commission on Civil Rights studied the USDA’s contribution to the sustainability of Black-owned farms and found that the USDA and its agencies excluded African Americans from programs that had raised the economic and educational levels of thousands of rural farmers. Despite the commission’s recommendations, subsequent reports found that discrimination persisted.

<...>

http://www.yesmagazine.org/people-power/the-resurgence-of-black-farmers-20160708

The above-linked article was written in 2016. Fast forward to 2018, with a new administration and a new era of raw, in-your-face racism, and I wouldn't be surprised if the "progress" noted in the above suddenly reverses. You can see, through this OP article, how that can happen. I.e., "bad seed" = "bad or reduced or minimal crop" = "less money" = "unable to sustain the farm and pay bills" = "sell off land to pay bills". Wash. Rinse. Repeat.... until you go out of business.

[geardaddy]

39. Jesus Christ!

What evil fuckers!

[malthaussen]

43. It would be nice if these criminals answered for their acts. n/t

[jmbar2]

46. Stine company execs need the "Public Enemy" treatment

Should never be allowed to dine in peace until they make this right. and suffer serious consequences. This is RICO territory.

I am so ashamed of my fellow white amerikans like this...

[wryter2000]

47. Holy cap

Sue them out of existence.

[bucolic_frolic]

49. Developers

[SWBTATTReg]

52. Wow...sounds definitely like a massive hate crime here...nail the assholes to the wall! NT

[Garrett78]

63. Where's the qualifier in front of "Black farmers?"

What, the qualifier is implied and everyone automatically understands that the author isn't referring to *all* Black farmers? And that a qualifier is only absolutely necessary when the subject is "white people?" Okay, got it.