The Agriculture Department is taking applications from farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners for a share of a $2.2 billion fund to compensate victims of discrimination in USDA farm lending programs. Congress created the fund last year after lawsuits stymied a debt-relief plan aimed at farmers of color.
“The opening of the application process is an important step in delivering on our commitment of providing financial assistance to those who faced discrimination in USDA farm lending, as swiftly and efficiently as possible,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
The maximum payment in the new Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) is $500,000. Applications will be accepted through Oct. 31. They will be reviewed by an outside administrator, Midtown Group, during November and December, with payments to be issued soon afterward.
The USDA has acknowledged in legal settlements with Black, Hispanic, Native American, and women farmers over the past generation a history of bias in operation of its farm loan programs.
In its announcement, the USDA emphasized applications are free and said eight organizations, such as AgrAbility, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, were conducting outreach to farm groups to help farmers who may be eligible for assistance. By law, DFAP is being run by nongovernmental entities.
“This process is the best we have right now, and we must make it work for the farmers who have suffered at the hands of the USDA, those whose operations have been hobbled because of a long history of racism and racial exclusion,” said Savi Horne, director of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Land Loss Prevention Project. “Our goal is to give them a fighting chance to be the viable producers they are capable of becoming, if given a level playing field.”
The USDA website for DFAP is available here.