Black farmers across America are somewhat cautiously jumping for joy over the July 31 U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing long-awaited payments ranging from $50,000 to $500,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA had agreed to a settlement in the Pigford vs. Glickman class action lawsuit of 1999 charging it with systematic and institutional racial discrimination in its farmers loan and crop support programs for most of the past 150 years

Most payments are expected to go to farmers in Mississippi and Alabama.

More than 24,000 Alabama and Mississippi farmers and ranchers will receive direct payments as the Biden administration follows through on the money intended for Black and other minority farmers who were discriminated against by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

President Joe Biden announced on July 31 that a total of $2.2 billion was in the promised payments.

But the payments are being sent out against the backdrop of a group of Black farmers who have another lawsuit pending. Their lawsuit claims that the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP), the program under which the money was allocated as a part of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, should be open to applicants filing on behalf of their deceased relatives who suffered from the long years of discrimination and denial. 

MONEY MIGHT STOP

The payments may be delayed or denied because of a lawsuit filed by the Black Farmers and Agriculturists Association (BFAA), which has 20,000 members. The group is asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit to hold up the payments until the Supreme Court decides whether the applicants filing claims on behalf of their deceased relatives who faced discrimination are to be allowed to file under the current decision.

BFAA President Thomas Burrell of Memphis has asked that the appeal be expedited before the program runs out of money.

Many of the farmers having filed claims under Pigford have since died. Nearly 5,000 of the original 18,000 claims that were approved were estate claims, Burrell told CNN.

“We are asking,” he said, “that the Department of Agriculture discontinue its attack of discrimination against the African American community, particularly the African American farming and ranching community and their subsequent heirs.

“Fairness as it relates to the receipt of services to include loans and credit (is what we asked for). And we’ve had to demand that in the form of lawsuits,” he added.

Burrell bases his appeal on the Supreme Court’s June 2024 overruling of the “Chevron” case, a 1984 decision that ordered courts to defer to an agency’s interpretation of a law when the statutory language is ambiguous. The court ruled in June that “judges should exercise independent judgment in whether an agency regulation complies with the relevant statute.”

As a result, the farmers’ association says, the trial judge incorrectly relied on a “discredited standard of review” and that the appeals court should examine what the USDA is doing about the claims filed by the heirs of the deceased. This is perhaps the first test of the new ruling against the Chevron doctrine. 

BOYD SAYS YES

National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) President, John Boyd, called the decision A Huge Win. The National Black Farmers Association has championed a major victory for African American farmers and their families in the United States. After years of protests, lawsuits, and failed bills, NBFA members feel reassured for the first time of receiving the $2.2 billion payout for discrimination in farm lending from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This historic payout comes as a result of the Inflation Reduction Act Section 22007, signed into law by President Biden nearly two years ago.

Approximately 43,000 farmers will each receive payouts of up to $500,000, with the average award being $82,000. These funds are meant to provide financial assistance to farmers having experienced racial and other forms of discrimination from the USDA prior to 2021, the President announced from the White House. “This victory marks a significant step towards justice for Black farmers, who have long been fighting against systematic discrimination in the farming industry,” Biden said. 

The NBFA, under Boyd’s leadership for 40 years, has been at the forefront of this fight and has led the way in advocating for change.

“No matter how it is sliced, the $2.2 billion in payouts is historic,” Boyd said. “In 1999, Black farmers received a $1 billion payout. In 2013, a $1.25 billion payment was made in a late filers’ lawsuit settlement”

FARMER BLACKOUT

In 1910, Black farmers owned more than 16 million acres of land, being about 14 percent of farmers. Today, they own less than 4.7 million acres, the Associated Press reported in 2021. 

“Black farms in the U.S. plummeted from 925,000 to fewer than 36,000, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest farm census,” AP said. “And only about one in 100 farmers is Black.”

What happened?

“They were able to overcome the broken promise of ‘40 acres and a mule’ to the newly freed slaves – a military order, later rescinded. But again and again over the last century, they faced one obstacle after another because of their race. Lenders – chief among them, the USDA – often refused to give them money, and often rushed to foreclose. Suppliers and customers undercut them. Laws of inheritance led to the breakup of homesteads,” the AP report concluded.

USDA spokeswoman Kate Waters said in 2021 that the agency is committed to rooting out systemic racism and reducing barriers to accessing services. She said the department was about to launch an Equity Commission later that year to identify problems and fix them.

Congress, meanwhile, approved $4 billion in debt relief for 16,000 farmers of color in March 2021 as part of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package.

White farmers filed lawsuits in Florida, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Texas, Wyoming, Illinois, and Minnesota. A nationwide, preliminary injunction halted the program in June 2021 to block it.

Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, who is suing in his personal capacity as a farmer, contends the debt relief is unconstitutional because it excludes white farmers based on their race or ethnicity.

SUPPORT TEAM

Representative Bennie Thompson, who supported the payout plan at each step along the way, said: “This program is crucial for Black farmers in Mississippi and across the country, who have historically faced systemic discrimination. As the only member of Congress from Mississippi to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, I am proud to see the positive impact this legislation is having on our farmers and ranchers. These awards are a significant step in the right direction, but our work towards equity must continue.”

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, one of the key sponsors of the Black Farmers’ rescue legislation, admits it was a tough fight. “I fought to include $2.2 billion in the Inflation Reduction Act to provide financial assistance to farmers who had suffered because of (racial discrimination). I am pleased that the USDA announced that this financial assistance has been disbursed to Black farmers and other farmers who were victims of USDA discrimination. This money will be a lifeline to farmers and ranchers across the country who in the past have been unfairly denied access to USDA lending and safety net programs.” 

“We thank President Joe Biden, Secretary Vilsack at USDA, and the staff at USDA for completing the evaluation of all of the 58,000 applications for DFAP earlier than expected and prior to the schedule originally announced,” said John Zippert, Board Chair of the Rural Coalition and editor-publisher of the Greene County Democrat, based in Eutaw, Alabama. “We are also grateful to the United States Congress for passing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which made these awards possible…that over 43,000 individuals are going to receive. “

Representative Terri Sewell of Alabama said she was “thrilled,” having been the only member of the Alabama Delegation to vote for the IRA. Over $383 million in funding will address historic injustice faced by so many Alabama farmers…. I would also like to thank my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus for working so closely with me to ensure that this historic funding was included in the Inflation Reduction Act. As a daughter of the Black Belt, I grew up knowing so many family members, friends, and neighbors who were denied loans because of their skin color.”

END OF AN ERA

The initial lawsuits known as Pigford v. Glickman I and II were decided in 1999 and 2013 and awarded over $2.3 billion to Black and other ethnic farmers, along with women farmers, who had filed the class action suit claiming that the USDA regularly discriminated against them throughout its history. Few loans of substance and ruinous foreclosures were the regular companion pieces of the Black farmers’ experience with USDA. 

When asked if his many years of jousting with politicians, angry Black farmers, and white racist bureaucrats had been worth it, Boyd didn’t hesitate in answering, “Yes.” Just hearing White House Advisor and Director of Public Engagement Stephen Benjamin announcing the clearance of the money with the Supreme Court’s approval was enchanting for Boyd. 

“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 farmers’ checks were proverbially “in the mail” as Benjamin, the top Black senior administrator in the White House, made his announcement. Benjamin was the former mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, before being appointed by President Biden in 2021.