COLUMBIA, Missouri — The Biden administration has distributed more than $2 billion in direct payments to Black and other minority farmers discriminated against by the US Department of Agriculture, the president announced on Wednesday.
According to the USDA, more than 23,000 farmers were approved for payments ranging from $10,000 to $500,000. Another 20,000 who planned to start a farm but did not receive a USDA loan received between $3,500 and $6,000.
Most of the payments went to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters the aid “is not compensation for anyone’s loss or pain, but an acknowledgement by the Department.”
The USDA has a long history from refusing to process loans from black farmers, approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and in some cases moving faster than normal to foreclose when black farmers who had taken out loans got into trouble.
John Boyd Jr., founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association, said the aid is helpful. But, he said, it’s not enough.
“It’s like putting a Band-Aid on someone who needs open-heart surgery,” Boyd said. “We want our country, and I want to be very, very clear about that.”
Boyd is still fighting a federal lawsuit for 120% debt relief for black farmers that was approved by Congress in 2021. $5 billion for the program was included in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.
But the money never came. White farmers in several states filed lawsuits arguing that their exclusion violated their constitutional rights, prompting judges to halt the program shortly after it was approved.
Faced with the likelihood of a lengthy lawsuit that would delay payments to farmers, Congress amended the law to provide financial relief to a broader group of farmers. A new law appropriated $3.1 billion to help farmers struggling with USDA-backed loans and $2.2 billion to pay farmers the agency discriminated against.
Wardell Carter, who is black, said no one in his farming family had even been able to apply for a loan since Carter’s father bought 85 acres (34.4 hectares) of land in Mississippi in 1939. He said USDA loan officers would slam the door in his face. If black farmers persisted, Carter said officials would send police to their homes.
Without a loan, Carter’s family couldn’t afford a tractor, so they used a horse and mule for years. And without the right equipment, the family could only farm 40 acres (16.2 hectares) of their property, which reduced profits.
When they finally got a bank loan to buy a tractor, Carter said the interest was 100%.
Boyd said he watched his loan applications being torn up and thrown in the trash, being called racial slurs and being asked to leave in the middle of loan negotiations so the agent could talk to white farmers.
“We’re facing outright, in your face, real discrimination,” Boyd said. “And I’m facing it, too. The county’s agricultural loan officer spit tobacco juice on me during a loan session.”
Carter said that at 65, he is too old to farm his land. But he said if he receives money through the USDA program, he will use it to get his property in order so his nephew can farm again. Carter said he and his family also want to contribute to buying his nephew a tractor.
