Makenzie Huber, South Dakota Searchlight
More than 360 South Dakota agricultural producers are receiving a total of $53.4 million through the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday.
Eligible applicants allege they experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending programs before 2021, including on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, age and disability. An earlier USDA notice about the program also identified membership in a Native American tribe as a potential basis for a discrimination claim.
More than 43,000 producers nationwide will receive financial assistance through the $2.2 billion program, funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. More than 58,000 people applied.
President Joe Biden vowed to support agricultural producers who experienced discrimination before he took office. The program was created after the Biden administration tried to provide $4 billion of debt relief for Black farmers, which was shut down amid lawsuits.
“While this financial assistance is not compensation for anyone’s losses or pain endured, it is an acknowledgement,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a news release. “My hope is that this will ensure that many farmers can stay on their farms, contribute to our nation’s food supply, and continue doing what they love.”
About half of the nationwide recipients are farmers or ranchers who are receiving $10,000 to $500,000, or an average of about $82,000. South Dakota had 333 such awards. About 20,000 individuals who said they were unable to get a USDA loan are receiving an average of $5,000 to start a farming or ranching operation. South Dakota had 29 such awards.
Payments were awarded to people in every state and three territories, but residents of Alabama and Mississippi alone received almost half of the money. Vilsack said the discrimination resulted in loan denials, loan delays, higher interest rates and an overall lack of assistance.
According to The New York Times, the USDA said it was still analyzing the applications and payouts to determine demographic information about payment recipients. John Boyd, the president of the National Black Farmers Association, told the news outlet that Black farmers received about $1.5 billion of the available funds.
Applications were vetted by independent consulting firms that the Agriculture Department hired.
The USDA did not immediately respond to questions from South Dakota Searchlight.