John W. Boyd, Jr.

Who is John W. Boyd, Jr.?

John Wesley Boyd, Jr. is a Baskerville, Virginia farmer and civil rights activist and the founder of the National Black Farmers Association. He owns and operates a 300-acre farm where he grows soybean, corn and wheat and currently raises a hundred head of beef cattle. For 14 years Boyd was a chicken farmer in a Perdue Farms breeder program. He was also a tobacco farmer for many years.

Boyd is a fourth-generation farmer. He formed the National Black Farmers Association, a Virginia-based non-profit organization, in 1995. In 2000, Boyd was the Democratic nominee for election to Virginia's 5th congressional district running against independent incumbent Virgil Goode. Goode later became a Republican.

In his role with the National Black Farmers Association, Boyd has worked closely with national leaders in government, agriculture organizations and rural groups nationwide. Boyd was appointed by then-Virginia Governor-elect Tim Kaine to serve as co-chair of his Policy Committee on Agriculture and Forestry during the transition period. In 2000, Boyd was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on his administration's tobacco commission.