Black farmers await debt relief after some say funding is racially discriminatory

Debt relief funding for Black farmers is hanging in the balance as judges have granted a temporary injunction after lawsuits claim the funding meant to help farmers is racially discriminatory.

”We won’t give up the fight," said Gary Grant, president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturist Association.

The fight, in this case, is to get debt relief funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA was to provide $4 billion to pay off direct loans to farmers of color. It’s all part of the Biden administration‘s COVID-19 pandemic relief plan. And right now, that funding is at a standstill after multiple federal judges blocked farmers of color from getting debt relief payments. Why? Because white farmers filed lawsuits claiming the funding is racially discriminatory.

"We would say the whole operation at the United States Department of Agriculture is not fair," Grant said, adding that the USDA should be ashamed of themselves.

"People didn’t do this to themselves," he said. "The Department of Agriculture, through the Farm Service Agency, did this to the farmers by slowing down the process of making the loans and not getting the loans in ample times," he said.

Grant says he’s seen firsthand how Black farmers suffer because of the lack of debt relief funding.

"We’re talking about things like having your lights cut off on Christmas, not being able to buy groceries," he said. "Just not having money to flow through your hands, it’s been such a problem, some have had to change careers."

As far as the future of farming, Grant said the younger generations are not following in their parents or grandparents footsteps.

"We’ve had to change careers, our children don’t want to go into farming," he said. "If we get them off to college they don’t want to return to the rural area."

The USDA tells politico it will continue to defend the ability to deliver debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers as soon as possible.