Black, minority farmers file class action suit against federal government
18th October 2022 · 0 Comments
By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer
Black and other minority farmers sued the federal government last week, alleging that recent legislation has eliminated a federal debt-relief program aimed at assisting financially beleaguered farmers of color in climbing out of the type of debt that continues to drive minority farmers out of business and out of the profession.
The class-action lawsuit, filed Oct. 12, charges the federal government with essentially breach of contract and bad faith following the passage in August of the Inflation Reduction Act, which heavily modifies the federal agricultural debt-relief program that had previously been established to provide subsidies and other financial assistance to farmers to help pay off overdue mortgages, business loans and other forms of crippling farm debt.
Under the program – which was designed to counteract forces like natural disasters and trade wars that have pressed thousands of farmers into debt – a special $4-billion discrimination fund was established especially to assist Black, Latino, Native-American and other disadvantaged farming populations.
However, white farmers then heavily criticized the discrimination fund, alleging that it created anti-white bias in the federal government’s agricultural debt-assistance programs; white farmers even sued the government along those lines, which has tied up the discrimination fund in the court’s and entangled it in legislative wrangling.
Perhaps bowing to such pressure, the Inflation Reduction Act heavily modified the debt program to the point where it basically eliminated the discrimination fund previously established to assist farmers of color, which triggered last week’s class-action lawsuit by Black and other minority farmers.
“They broke their promise to Black farmers and other farmers of color,” plaintiff John Boyd Jr., the president of the National Black Farmers Association, said in an interview with NBC News last Wednesday.
Attempts by The Louisiana Weekly to interview Boyd were unsuccessful, but he further explained the lawsuit in an article on the Web site Delta Farm Press.
“We have days, not weeks and months, to save many Black, Native American and other farmers of color from ruin,” Boyd said. “Black farmers are facing record costs for inputs like fuel and fertilizer and soaring land costs while battling droughts and extreme heat. We cannot and will not trust a president [Joe Biden] who doesn’t honor his commitments.”
Bruce Harrell, who operates a Black family farm raising vegetables and grains near Alexandria, said that while he personally isn’t facing serious debt issues, staying financially viable in agriculture remains difficult for farmers of color.
Harrell said he knows several older Black farmers who have been unable to retire or pass on their business to others because they are weighed down by large debt, such as multiple mortgages and loans to purchase farm equipment. “Now they’re delinquent [on their loans], which is hurting their credit,” he said.
He said the elimination of the discrimination fund has hit many colleagues hard; some of the troubled farmers were hoping to use assistance from the fund to help pay their mortgage notes.
“They were disappointed it was canceled,” he said.
Harrell said his own father, who is in his late 70s, cannot fully retire because his father is saddled with debt. “For him, he’s worrying about getting his loan paid every year,” Harrell said.
Some legislators are recognizing the difficulties experienced by Black farmers and other disadvantaged groups in agriculture.
Louisiana Congressman Troy A. Carter Sr., D-New Orleans, told The Louisiana Weekly that farmers of color need relief that helps them not just survive, but thrive in a profession that feeds the country. “For decades, Black farmers have been excluded from debt relief efforts, lost their way of life, and lost millions of acres of land,” Carter said. “Meanwhile, white farmers were consistently given resources to keep their livelihoods.”
Carter went on to say, “It’s abundantly clear that this is a racial justice issue, and it’s long past time to not just end these policies of farming discrimination but also to right these wrongs through debt relief, financial assistance, and a moratorium for farm foreclosures.”
For its part, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which implements federal farm policy, including debt relief and other forms of financial assistance, said the government realizes that in the past, it has made missteps when addressing the needs of minority farmers.
A USDA spokesperson told The Louisiana Weekly that the department and the Biden administration are striving to make amends for questionable policies and actions of the past, citing recent actions like a moratorium on farm foreclosures as evidence.
The spokesperson also pointed to targeted assistance provided to small and mid-sized producers under the federal appropriations act and the 2020 CARES Act as further examples.
“USDA is committed to facing its history, learning from mistakes, and doing the intentional work of building trust in the communities that need us most,” the spokesperson said. “To this day the Biden administration remains 100 percent committed to preventing foreclosures and keeping farmers farming.”
The spokesperson also asserted that the department is working on eliminating discriminatory practices in the farming industry.
“USDA is also deeply committed to upholding civil rights and advancing equity,” they said. “As part of this commitment, USDA stood up an Equity Commission comprised of external stakeholders to provide recommendations for how the agency can root out inequities and realign its programs and policies to advance equity. The Department has a comprehensive equity agenda, including an equity action plan that can be found at www.usda.gov/equity.”
In addition, the spokesperson defended the policies outlined in the Inflation Reduction Act.
“With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, USDA will have many more tools to help USDA borrowers struggling with these loans, as well as more funding specifically targeted to provide justice to producers who have experienced discrimination in USDA’s loan programs,” they said.
On a state level, officials with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry say they are doing what they can to support minority and disadvantaged farmers. LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain told The Louisiana Weekly that minority farmers often lack the type of asset base that would allow them to seek out and procure additional financial backing for expenses like larger, more up-to-date machinery.
Strain also said a lack of liquid assets by minority farmers can hinder their ability to survive after a poor harvest or other reasons for a down year. Related to those challenges is a lack of credit.
“The No. 1 issue is credit and being able to borrow enough to be sustainable,” said Strain, a Republican who has been in office since 2008.
Other obstacles for farmers of color are changing markets and keeping a stable labor supply for their farming operations, which particularly impacts produce growers.
“These farmers are under a lot of pressure,” Strain said.
He said annual operations costs for farms can run several hundred thousand dollars, and noted that federal loans are utilized by many new and beginning minority farmers who might be at a disadvantage with other lenders or similar economic forces.
Strain said the LDAF includes the Office of Minority and Veteran Affairs, which offers various outreach programs and services to provide financial, operational and training assistance to disadvantaged farmers. The OMVA, which is headed by Jeremy Hendrix, works with local agricultural centers and cooperative extensions to such ends, and he pointed to the work done by the Southern University Ag Center in particular. The Southern Ag Center operates under the Baton Rouge HBCU’s College of Agricultural, Family and Consumer Services.
Harrell did sound a note of optimism with the situation, saying the government has improved in assisting farmers of color in some ways. He said that even though serious problems remain, there are signs of progress of legislators finally taking seriously the challenges faced by farmers of color.
“Is everything perfect?” he posed. “Maybe not, but [government leaders] are making lots of improvements.”
This article originally published in the October 18, 2022 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
