USDA Providing $2 Billion In Discrimination Payments

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Leah Douglas reported Wednesday that “the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday it has issued $2 billion of financial assistance to more than 43,000 farmers, ranchers and forest landowners who experienced past discrimination in the agency’s farm lending programs.”

“The Inflation Reduction Act allocated $2.2 billion for the discrimination payments. For decades, Black farmers and other under-represented groups in farming have alleged bias in the agency’s farm loan programs,” Douglas reported. “The recipients of the payments include more than 23,000 people who have or previously had a farming operation, and another 20,000 who reported they were unable to have a farming operation because of discrimination in USDA’s loan process.”

“Farm loans from the USDA are often considered a last resort for farmers who have difficulty accessing credit from traditional banks,” Douglas reported. “Examples of types of discrimination faced by farmers could include receiving higher interest rates, having a loan approved too late in the farming season, or a lack of assistance from loan officers, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters on a conference call.”

The Associated Press’ Summer Ballentine reported that “the USDA has a long history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and in some cases foreclosing quicker than usual when Black farmers who obtained loans ran into problems.”

“National Black Farmers Association Founder and President John Boyd Jr. said the aid is helpful. But, he said, it’s not enough,” Ballentine reported. “‘It’s like putting a bandage on somebody that needs open-heart surgery,’ Boyd said. ‘We want our land, and I want to be very, very clear about that.'”

More Than Half of Payments to Mississippi and Alabama

Progressive Farmer’s Chris Clayton reported Wednesday that “farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in Mississippi and Alabama make up over half of the people receiving a share of more than $2 billion in payments over historic discrimination through USDA’s farm-loan programs.”