John Boyd, president of the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA), is calling out PepsiCo for continued discrimination after a year of negotiations that have not produced a contract. Yet, there was a verbal agreement between the organization and the company, according to a press release.
Boyd, a farmer from Mecklenberg County, Virginia, accuses PepsiCo of valuing public image over profitability. He adds racial discrimination to his long list of complaints that include the company’s negative environmental impact like deforestation, pesticides, exploitation of water resources, and global plastic pollution, reports The Guardian.
“NBFA raised concerns over the gargantuan company’s failure to contract with members of the NBFA to provide agricultural products that form the foundation of their firm’s processes. Only White farmers have been afforded the opportunity to share in PepsiCo’s enormous profits. It prefers the superficial responses to public opinion, such as changing the brand image of its stereotyped figure Aunt Jemima. PepsiCo immediately reached out to the NBFA on June 19, 2020, in the face of such controversy,” said Boyd in an official statement released Thursday.
On February 9, 2021, PepsiCo announced they were rebranding the Aunt Jemima product line and declared a $400 million pledge to increase diversity and inclusion throughout their supply chain, including agriculture.
In June 2020, PepsiCo Chief Sustainability Officer Simon Lowden said the food and beverage company had doubled its procurements with black-owned suppliers and joined the National Black Growers Council as an Advisory Board member, Forbes.com reports.
But Boyd feels that is not enough effort and claims that PepsiCo suggested they would conduct business with NBFA members, contingent on the farmers sharing their personal information through the association’s national database.
“A year and a half later, when NBFA growers met all the required elements for a potato delivery contract, the company’s executives apparently had lost interest in keeping its part of the bargain,” Boyd called the decision “appalling,” AG Daily reports.
“PepsiCo had decided to ‘move in a new direction’ that would not include NBFA black farmer members,” the company told Boyd.
He adds in his official statement, “Our outrage at this kind of bullying discrimination is not just about hurt feelings. Our livelihood and financial stability [are] at stake when we encounter such blatantly low-level business practices. Some black farmers have actually lost their farms amid this unethical and inhumane treatment. The NBFA is seeking legal counsel regarding PepsiCo’s verbal commitment for a potato contract,” he declares.
