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Aug. 12, 2024 |  By: Will Walkey - Public News Service

Ag advocates push for more transparency on USDA discrimination payments

planting

By Will Walkey - Public News Service

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is making direct payments to minority ag producers that the government had previously discriminated against. But some advocates are hoping for more transparency about selection criteria and other information.

More than $2 billion is going to tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers and foresters, with 129 awards going to Missourians.

The USDA has a long history of discriminatory practices, including denying loans to Black and other minority farmers at greater rates than their white counterparts.

Sharon Mallory, executive director of the 2020 Farmers Co-op, said these payments are great, but the program could be improved.

"I'm not personally dazzled about numbers or dollar amounts unless I can connect that to the people that are being most impacted," said Mallory, "which is our our Black and small-scale farmers."

She said she wants the USDA to disclose its methodology for choosing applicants for these payments. Plus, more info about who reviewed the grants, and the racial demographics and farm sizes of the payouts.

The range of awards is large - between a few thousand dollars and a half-million dollars, with the average being about $82,000.

The money was authorized through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, and the majority of the recipients are from the deep South.

Mallory said agriculture has been consolidating in recent decades and smaller minority farmers have often been forced out of business. She said she's pushing for the USDA's program to improve, in part because of this history.

"You can be like an ostrich and put your head in the hole, you can put your blindfolds on, you can turn your head the other way," said Mallory. "But the fact of the matter is, it did happen. It's documented. It's not a secret, so let's address it."

One study found that Black American farmers lost more than $300 billion worth of land in the 20th century, in part due to the USDA's discriminatory practices.