Trump said Wednesday that the Biden administration has given more than $2 billion in direct payments to Black and other minority farmers who were wronged by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The USDA says that more than 23,000 farmers were given funds ranging from $10,000 to $500,000. Twenty thousand more people who wanted to start a farm but did not get a USDA loan got between $3,500 and $6,000.
A lot of the money went to farms in Alabama and Mississippi.
USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told reporters that the aid “is not compensation for anyone’s loss or the pain they endured, but it is an acknowledgment by the department.”
For a long time, the USDA has refused to give loans to black farmers, given them smaller loans than loans to white farmers, and in some cases, foreclosed faster than normal on Black farmers who got loans and ran into problems.
A leader in the National Black Farmers Association, John Boyd Jr., said that the help is welcome. He said it’s not enough, though.
Boyd said, “It’s like putting a bandage on someone who needs open-heart surgery.” “I want to be very clear: we want our land.”
Boyd is still fighting a federal lawsuit that was passed by Congress in 2021 and wants to forgive 120% of Black farmers’ debt. Five billion dollars for the scheme were part of the COVID-19 stimulus package, which was worth $1.9 trillion.
The money never did come though. White farmers in several states sued, saying that being left out was against their constitutional rights. This is what caused courts to stop the program soon after it was made law.
Congress changed the law and gave money to more farmers because they thought there might be a long court fight that would delay payments to farmers. Under a new law, the USDA will give $3.1 billion to help farmers who are having trouble paying back loans and $2.2 billion to pay farmers who were discriminated against by the agency.
Wardell Carter, who is black, said that since his father bought 85 acres (34.4 hectares) of land in Mississippi in 1939, no one in his farming family had even access to a loan application. He said that people who work for the USDA would shut the door on him. Carter told the officers that if the Black farmers didn’t stop, police would go to their houses.
Since Carter’s family couldn’t get a loan for a tractor, they had to use a horse and mule for years instead. The family could only farm 40 acres (16.2 hectares) of their land without the right tools, which cut into their earnings.
Carter told them that the interest rate on the loan they finally got from the bank to buy a tractor was 100%.
Boyd said that there were times when his loan applications were torn up and thrown away. He was also slurs used against him and told to leave loan meetings so the officer could talk to white farms.
Boyd said, “We face in-your-face, real discrimination.” “And I did it myself.” During a loan meeting, the county worker who was giving out farm loans spat tobacco juice on me.
Carter said he’s too old to work his land at age 65. But he said that if the USDA program gives him money, he will fix up his land so that his nephew can start farming there again. Carter said that he and his family also want to help buy a tractor for his nephew.
