ddie Linzie is a rarity: a black rural landowner increasing the size of his 40- acre operation. He grew up in the city of Columbia, Missouri, dreaming of being a cowboy. By the time he takes early retirement from his city job this September, he'll be ranching full-time, just as his dream dictates.

Henry Logan in nearby Fulton, Missouri has 125 acres of land passed down through his family from an ex-slave who came to homestead in the late 1860s. Now, Mr. Logan's children see their father run a construction company, then come home to work another shift on the farm. They know there are easier ways to make a living.

These two farmers share problems with all small farmers, but are also threatened by racism, both historical and current, because both are black farmers.I hope to show with my documentary project the diverse humans behind the label "black farmer," to help people understand what might be lost if predictions of the demise of black farming by the end of the century come true.

I've started working to understand communities of black farmers in mid-Missouri already. In Fayette, a Communities of black farmers live and work together, finding financing in their own community when white-owned banks turn them down. And in the "Boot-heel" of Missouri, descendents of migrants from Mississippi during the "Share-croppers Revolt" in the 1930s still farm and maintain a culture revolving around the land. Their stories need to be told, before there are only memories.