Federal grants have been issued to more than 1,500 Black and minority farmers, ranchers and forest landowners in Tennessee who experienced discrimination in United States Department of Agriculture farm lending programs prior to January 2021.
Tennessee’s recipients are among more than 43,000 people to receive funding through the Inflation Reduction Act’s $2.2 billion Discrimination Financial Assistance Program signed into law by President Joe Biden. The USDA opened the application process opened in July 2023 and received around 58,000 applications in total by the January 2024 deadline. All final decisions and awards were made as of July 30, according to an agency news release.
The funding was spread among individuals in all 50 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
Grants were paid out to two groups:
- More than 23,000 individuals who have or had an active farming or ranching operation received grants between $10,000 and $500,000 (the average grant fell around $82,000).
- More than 20,000 individuals who planned to run a farming or ranching operation but were unable to get a USDA loan to do so received between $3,500 and $6,000 (the average grant fell around $5,000).
In Tennessee, funds were granted to 626 producers and 958 individuals who had planned to start a farming or ranching operation, for a total of 1,584 awardees.
Tennessee is among nine states with more than 1,000 recipients, including California, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Mississippi and Alabama have the highest concentration of recipients — 13,283 Mississippians and 10,907 Alabamians were granted funds.
According to a USDA news release, while the grant program is now closed, the USDA will use information collected from applicants to make “significant changes” to the Farm Service Agency’s loan process, including:
- “Streamlined and shortened” loan requirements
- The ability to file farm loan applications and make loan payments online
- Processes that “reduce the need for human discretion in loan decision-making”
- “Diversified agency leadership and county committee membership”
National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd called the payouts ‘historic’ in a Wednesday statement posted to the association’s website. While the NBFA’s statement describes the application process as “lengthy and complex, compounding the pain and frustration felt by many farmers,” Boyd said it was worth it in the end.
“This victory is not just for the NBFA, but for all Black farmers and their families who have endured discrimination and struggled to make ends meet,” Boyd said.
“The completion of the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program is an important moment in USDA’s history, and in our journey to becoming a department that truly serves everyone who wants to participate in agriculture,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release. “While this financial assistance is not compensation for anyone’s losses or pain endured, it is an acknowledgement. My hope is that this will ensure that many farmers can stay on their farms, contribute to our nation’s food supply, and continue doing what they love.”
This story was originally published by the Tennessee Lookout.
