‘Always tell your story’: Black farmers race to apply for discrimination compensation
After decades of racist discrimination in farm loans, farmers have a couple of months to request some level of restitution. Applications for the federal Discrimination Financial Assistance Program are due Oct. 31.
The program is not restricted to Black farmers and ranchers: It’s open to people who were discriminated against due to a variety of characteristics. However, the U.S. government documented unfair treatment of Black applicants as early as 1965 — yet it continued. This treatment was a factor in Black farmers losing land worth an estimated $326 billion, according to a 2022 study.
“Distribution of these funds is one step in the long march towards justice and an inclusive, equitable USDA,” the Department of Agriculture says on its website.
When Dewayne Goldmon began farming, “all the discrimination and missed opportunities I had heard about, it reached me,” he told a room of mostly Black and brown farmers at the Tenney Group’s Harvest Ball in November. “It’s hard to talk about. It’s real.”
Goldmon is senior adviser for racial equity to the U.S. secretary of agriculture, the first in that role.
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it," he said. "We’ve got some work to do.”
Getting the money out requires that people trust an agency that has historically given them many reasons for distrust. The USDA has partnered with several community organizations, and there are special offices in every state.
It’s a hefty application: 40 pages. One North Carolina church requested 70 copies, said Sean Sessoms, the financial assistance program’s customer office manager in that state.
Here’s what you need to know.
What did people suffer?
Along with being denied loans for which they were qualified, Black farmers got lesser amounts, worse rates and heavier collateral — plus disrespect.
Stanley Hughes, a 75-year-old farmer in Orange County, North Carolina, said his farm loan accounts were “supervised.” Anything he wanted to buy, he had to bring the documentation to the loan officer, who cut a check to the seller. White farmers simply got a check for the full amount of their loans and could spend as they wished.
At a Sept. 1 information session in Greensboro, North Carolina, Sessoms shared stories he had heard this summer from Black farmers:
A woman went in to pay her loan. The clerk wrote out a receipt, then tore it up in contempt. The woman told her grandson to pick up the pieces and taped them together at home. “That’s discrimination,” Sessoms said.
A rancher heard about a program to help with the costs of cows that died from heat exhaustion. He went into the office. The woman there said, “That program doesn’t exist.” He tallied the number of his cattle that died from heat exhaustion and put it on his taxes.
A family lost their house and farm and had to move into a mobile home.
People were spat upon by loan officers.
A man brought in his loan application, and the officer ripped it up in front of him. When he told his wife, he broke down. It was the first time his daughter had ever seen him cry.
“Learning about this program has opened my eyes to a lot of disheartening information about our government,” said Sessoms, who is Black himself.
Who qualifies?
Applicants must have experienced discrimination in USDA farm loan programs before 2021 on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity such as being transgender, religion, age, disability or civil rights activity, or the perception that they were or did any of these things.
Also eligible:
People who intended to farm but could not because they were denied a loan for discriminatory reasons.
People who assumed or were assigned debt from those who experienced discrimination in lending.
“We’re expecting probably over 50,000 people to be eligible,” USDA spokeswoman Catherine Cochran said.
How much money is being given out?
Up to $2.2 billion. Technically there is a maximum of $500,000 per award, but given the possible number of applicants, Cochran cautioned people not to hope for that much. “We want to manage people’s expectations,” she said.
The awards are taxable.
Wasn’t this money held up in court?
It was, but no longer.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 pledged $4 billion in debt relief to “socially disadvantaged” farmers and ranchers — defined by the USDA as members of groups who have faced racial or ethnic prejudice. The relief was frozen after white farmers sued, saying the law unconstitutionally discriminated on the basis of race.
To resolve the conflict, Congress repealed and replaced the program in 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act. The new law specified help for “underserved” farmers and ranchers.
The 2022 law also allocated $3.1 billion to help distressed farm borrowers of any race.
How did the change from the first law to the second go down?
Mixed. At the 2022 Harvest Ball, Alcorn State University expert Eloris Speight counseled pragmatism.
The original funding “could have been held up for years in the court,” she said, “so we think it was a good thing that it was repealed.”
However, several Black farmers sued, saying the government broke a contract. The plaintiffs included National Black Farmers Association President John Wesley Boyd Jr. Boyd has stated that he is not supporting President Joe Biden’s reelection because he hasn’t kept his promises to Black farmers. A federal judge dismissed the suit in April, according to Justia. Two of the plaintiffs have appealed.
How do people document the discrimination?
As thoroughly as possible. The very nature of discrimination means there may not be official papers — say, if a loan officer threw away an application instead of responding to it. But “if any paper trail’s there, include it,” Sessoms said.
Documentation might include the written account of someone who witnessed the discrimination; comments by neighbors; or an observation that a white farmer down the road got approved for a loan when a Black farmer didn’t.
No matter how much paperwork people have or don’t, “I say — tell your story. Always tell your story,” Sessoms said. “I’m always saying apply.”
Why the quick turnaround?
Cochran said they wanted to “get the money out the door before the next planting season.”
What is this 22007 business?
The application website is 22007apply.gov. That’s the section of the Inflation Reduction Act that allocated the money.
(22007 is also, coincidentally, the ZIP code for part of Arlington, Virginia.)
Do people need lawyers to apply?
No. The application is free, and there is free help available. Applicants can attend a workshop, call the toll-free help line or meet with an assistant in person or over Zoom. USDA warns against scammers charging money.
Sessoms and his colleague Marcos de Oliveira said it doesn’t matter how much help someone needs. They spent seven hours with one family, who ended up filing six separate applications.
“I enjoy it, because being able to assist individuals who were wronged — to me, it’s like, justified,” Sessoms said. “So though it might take 10-12 hour days to get this done, I’ll do it just to make sure we can get as many farmers and ranchers in before the deadline.”
Is there support beyond the practical?
Yes. Reliving these experiences can be upsetting. AgrAbility, a national organization, has free counseling resources for farmers and ranchers.
Who decides?
The national administrator, Midtown Group, "using standards set by USDA and in consultation with agricultural experts and with oversight by USDA," Cochran wrote in an email. The law required that the agency work with third-party administrators.
“The fox isn’t guarding the henhouse,” said Mark Blevins, an extension administrator at North Carolina A&T State University.
Two additional companies, Windsor Group and Analytic Acquisitions, run the help centers and will be “providing recommendations” on applications, according to the USDA’s website.
Hughes and his wife, Linda Leach, plan to apply, but they’re skeptical. They questioned whether the decisions would be fair or informed, even with a third party.
“It’s going to be interesting to see if they’re going to hold up their end of the bargain. Or if it’s going to be false hope,” Leach said. “Discrimination is still going on, and you still have to prove your worth every day.”
Will there be more resources after this?
Maybe. Rep. Alma Adams, D-D.C., and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., have reintroduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act. It would establish land grants, loans and training, and dig deeper into the records of discrimination.
Is it true that when it comes to getting something done, there’s no minute like the last minute?
Not in this case. The administrators will contact applicants about incomplete submissions, but only if those applications are in before the deadline, Sessoms said. Also, if people need documentation from the Farm Services Agency, that takes time. They should email requests to info@22007.apply.gov by Sept. 29.
No matter what, Sessoms said, “Don’t go trick-or-treating until you’ve submitted your application.”
Get application materials at 22007apply.gov.
Danielle Dreilinger is an American South storytelling reporter and the author of the book “The Secret History of Home Economics.” You can reach her at ddreilinger@gannett.com or 919/236-3141.
More: 5,000 acres to foreclosed: How one family’s story shows the struggle of Black farmers
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Deadline nears for USDA discrimination compensation: what to know
