Farming While Black in America: Against All Odds

By now most of us may know about the failed effort by white farmers to get a piece of the pie from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and its most vulnerable category, section 1005. Those funds were built into the bill to redress the history of discrimination by white America in the county offices of the USDA, but somehow or other, white farmers across the country believed that they were owed some of it. The Commissioner of Ag in the State of Texas, Sid Miller, was one of the litigants. 

In another blog post somewhere in here is an accounting of funds received by the first six litigants from streams of subsidies, coronavirus relief funds, and Trump's failed war with China. It is telling as to how pitiful their farmers and lives are. 

The Senate has passed a bill entitled Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 and it contains funds to address those farmers who have been discriminated against, though it does not call out "Black farmers," and another section that addresses "at-risk agricultural operations." More on that later. For now, you can just scroll down to page 565 and begin your reading there. It ends at page 570.

Some of you may have seen the film or the trailer for "I'm Just a Layman in Pursuit of Justice: Black Farmers Fight USDA." If not, here is the link to that page.  Some think that compensatory damages for discrimination is a handout. That's blatantly rediculous. 

In the film, nine Black farmers' stories are told in their own words, their own stories, their own faces, and their own tears. Listed below, and de-identified, are the acts of discrimination that your government, the USDA, the FSA, the County Committee, and various and sundry employees perpetrated upon Black farmers, folks who just wanted to live and to farm. 

Any Black farmer who settles with the USDA and DOJ, if they are actually settled, requires a "findings of discrimination" document. Generally, the USDA then offers compensatory damages, debt relief, and priority of services. Sometimes the USDA honors its agreements and sometimes it doesn't. I hope you caught that last sentence fragment, "sometimes it doesn't." Yes, here in America, "sometimes it doesn't."

Imagine if you were on the receiving end of what they experienced. 

Farmer A and wife were set up by a retiring FSA County employee. Given their trust of him, they bought a farm at an overly high appraisal value. Their land’s productivity was likewise over estimated. Pest infestation was worse than they’d been told. They were denied operating loans by a hostile FSA office, favorable rulings by FSA were overturned. The “put a scar in me that will never heal,” said Farmer A’s wife.

Farmer B was denied operating loans and debt settlement options. The FSA illegally seized his disaster and crop payments. Early on, the FSA office lost his application for debt settlement, resulting in a drawn-out process in which he had to apply a second time. This person demanded that Mr. Farmer B sign blank settlement papers and perjured himself in depositions. The FSA unfairly liquidated his assets.

Farmer C and his wife were denied technical assistance and operating loans in a timely fashion. They were also provided inadequate farm operation loans. The local county office delayed information to him that was crucial to his farm operation, yet gave it to white farmers. They failed to provide him with loan applications and denied him loans despite the loans being collateralized. He was compelled to buy a larger combine than he needed, and then he lost both money and the combine. When farm operation loans came in, they were oftentimes late and less than half of what he needed to farm. The FSA officer demanded for four years that loans be filled out in pencil. His loan applications were altered. He received small loans well into planting season.  The local FSA office put his farm loans against old debts rather than toward the current farm operation. He was caught in the middle of collusion between banks and real estate agents. Loans were accelerated and foreclosure was started. The local office reneged on loans such that he could not pay for seeds or fertilizer.

For Farmer D, the needlessly prolonged process of loan applications meant that he missed out on prime opportunities for a chicken operation because the chicken company had moved on to a white farmer on a select rooster house by the time he got his money. When he did receive operating loans, he was micromanaged via a supervised account, something never done with white farmers. There was an absence of accountability for wrong doing at the county level. Land that he was leasing was sold out from under him and bought by a USDA county official who knew of its availability despite him having a lease/purchase agreement. His cows were shot and killed. He was nearly run off the road on one occasion as he was leaving the county office.

Farmer E was denied farm ownership loans during a time when white farmers were receiving them. The justification by the FSA was that he did not have farm experience despite having grown up on a farm. He was denied low interest operation loans and forced to pay higher interest rates. Similar young white farmers were not penalized. Lease agreements were sometimes terminated unjustly. The county FSA office failed to provide him with assistance. The FSA county agent was told to minimize support in order to insure failure. The FSA office reneged on lease agreements he had made in conjunction with them. His credit was ruined by FSA’s failure to support his efforts.

Farmer F was denied debt relief despite this being a legitimate option for him and his farm operation in years of natural disasters. The FSA withheld payments to him. They stopped payments on federal disaster relief following a severe drought that affected all area farmers. The FSA’s discrimination against him destroyed his credit and cost him $500,000. To this day, promised debt relief has never been provided.

Farmer G was denied loans based upon his status as a Black farmer. He was excluded from loan programs because he was Black. When he did receive loans from the FSA, he was charged exorbitant interest rates. The FSA delayed his receipt of loans which cost him financially. He was forced to work under a supervisory loan agreement unlike white farmers. On one occasion the local FSA office attempted to block his purchase of additional land. The seller worked cooperatively with him.

Farmer H was farming successfully. Despite owing the USDA a modest sum of money, it was only after he voiced support of his parents, Farmer I and his wife, that the USDA initiated foreclosure proceedings against him.

Farmer I and his wife were denied access to disaster relief funds despite disasters in the area for several years in a row. The FSA failed to offer to restructure loans in the face of natural disasters. They refused to allow his adult children to assume the loan, which was very modest at the time. The USDA compelled Farmer I to work under a supervised loan arrangement unlike area white farmers. The USDA settled and reneged on their agreements four times with them. They were told overt threats, “We’re going to sell you out.”  They were denied loans while at the same time the USDA failed to work with them to restructure their loans. The County Supervisor mishandled the USDA’s leaseback/buyback program and failed to follow their usual and customary loan servicing policies. The Department of Justice refused to settle despite the Office of Civil Rights decision that discrimination had occurred. Pigford I was on the horizon and DOJ wanted to wait. The USDA refused to offer debt write-down/write off in keeping with USDA policies. The USDA refused to provide homestead protection options. 

I hope the picture is clearer for you and me here in white America.