A new bill in California aims to better support the state’s minority and female farmers. The Farmer Equity Act of 2017 “applies to producers that have been federally classified as ‘socially disadvantaged,’ which includes people in groups whose members have been subject to racial, ethnic, or gender prejudice. The bill would create a department-level staff position for an employee to help those farmers navigate the agricultural landscape, and it would oblige the department to make recommendations on how to help California’s socially disadvantaged farmers in the future,” says Civil Eats.
The bill, which was introduced by California Democratic Assembly member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry and has garnered bipartisan support, has already been approved by the state Assembly and will go into effect if the state Senate passes it after its summer recess.
“According to data from the California Department of Food and Agriculture, despite having just 2.9 percent of the country’s farmland acreage, California farmers represent 14.6 percent of the nation’s Latino/a farmers, 35.1 percent of Asian farmers, 21.9 percent of Native American farmers, and 4.9 percent of women farmers,” says Civil Eats.