USDA to Form Commission to Tackle Racial Disparities That Hurt Black Farmers

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September 25, 2021

By J.L. Cook, TheRoot.com

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is launching a commission dedicated to rectifying the agency’s history of discriminating against Black farmers.

Farmer John Boyd Jr., runs his hay bailer at his farm in Boydton, Va., Thursday, May 27, 2021. Just two generations out of slavery, by 1910 Black farmers had amassed more than 16 million acres of land and made up about 14 percent of farmers. The fruit of their labors fed much of America. In 2021, they have fewer than 4.7 million acres. Photo: Steve Helber (AP)

Black farmers have accused the USDA of racial discrimination for decades, claiming that the agency is actively discriminatory when it comes to providing aid and loan forgiveness. Data analysis by POLITICO backed this up, finding that the agency granted loans to only 37 percent of Black applicants in 2020 while accepting 71 percent of applications from white farmers.

Years of discrimination culminated in a lawsuit against the USDA in 1997, known as Pigford v. Glickman, which ended with the agency settling the case for $1 billion in 1999 and providing payouts for several thousand Black farmers. Another round of $1.25 billion was made in 2011 for farmers who were denied payments the first time because they missed filing deadlines.

The Biden Administration attempted to further address the agency’s troubled history with racial discrimination earlier this year by providing billions of dollars in federal aid to disadvantaged farmers through the American Rescue Plan–an effort which was held up in legal battles due to white farmers (who, again, were statistically far more likely to get USDA loans than Black farmers) claiming that it was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

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