Herbert L. White
THE CHARLOTTE POST
Second in a series produced in partnership with Pulitzer Center.
The end of federal equity programs left farmers of color in a bind.
In 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, following President Donald Trump’s insistence on race-neutral policy, wiped out programs that addressed previous harms to Black farmers in areas like loan access. The final blow came in July when USDA removed requirements for the use of discriminatory racial and gender preferences in programs when they aren’t required by Congress.
The year prior, Black farmers began receiving payments from the $2.2 billion Discrimination Financial Assistance Program. Two years earlier, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act Section 22007 that authorized compensation for farmers who faced racial discrimination in USDA’s farm lending practices before 2021.
An estimated 43,000 farmers received payments of up to $500,000, with the average award $82,000. Trump’s USDA canceled the program.
“This was … one of the major endeavors that we worked on in terms of – really trying to help Black farmers out, knowing – to put it plain – the racist history of USDA and how they’ve impacted black farmers for over decades,” said Gbinga Ajilor, chief economist at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in Washington, D.C., and a USDA senior advisor for rural development during the Biden administration. “A lot of it was figure out what are the barriers, the structural barriers that occur at USDA that always made it difficult for Black farmers to succeed.”
President Donald Trump accused Biden of weaponizing the department to “willfully discriminate on the basis of race and gender” and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins directed USDA to review IRA funding and rescind so-called diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
“We are taking this aggressive, unprecedented action to eliminate discrimination in any form at USDA,” Rollins said. “It is simply wrong and contrary to the fundamental principle that all persons should be treated equally. President Trump has directed the cabinet to scrutinize all programs for illegal and unfair discrimination, and as long as I am Secretary of Agriculture, when we find leftover Biden discrimination in our programs, we will hold those persons who have committed these insidious acts accountable and take swift action to correct these illegal actions.”
The rollbacks produced swift results.
Black agriculture producers no longer had viable recourse to access federal funding to maintain their businesses. Politically, Republicans hail race neutrality while Democrats accuse the administration of reviving bias that Black farmers have dealt with for more than a century.
“I was appalled and disappointed to learn that the USDA is no longer taking remediation steps for race- and sex-based discrimination in farm lending, conservation grants, loans, and other programs,” U.S. Rep. Alma Adams, a Charlotte Democrat and a member of the House Agriculture Committee said at the time. “According to the Trump administration, the ‘socially disadvantaged’ designation is no longer needed since past discrimination has been ‘sufficiently addressed.’ Who is the administration trying to fool? And where’s the data?”
According to USDA data, socially disadvantaged agriculture producers:
- On average have fewer financial resources than their white male peers, which makes buying land more difficult
- Earn about $60,000 annually in median household income compared to $75,000 for non-SDA households
- Are more likely to operate smaller farms and face greater financial challenges compared to white farmers.
Before Trump’s return to the White House, Black farmers made modest progress.
In 2022, the National Black Farmers Association filed a class action lawsuit charging Black farmers lost $326 billion in land value due to discrimination. USDA previously acknowledged its complicity through rejection of loan applications at higher rates than white farmers.
Previous settlements with Black farmers, include a $1 billion payout in 1999 and $1.25 billion in 2013. Similar agreements were struck with Hispanic and women farmers ($1.3 billion), Native Americans ($800 million), and the class action Cobell case settlement ($3.4 billion) for tribal landowners.
Trump’s closing of race-aware programs doesn’t preclude congressional action, though.
U.S. Rep. Don Davis, who represents a rural district in northeastern North Carolina, introduced a pair of bills last year that focus on expanding access to federal resources and farm succession. The Rural Uplift and Revitalization Assistance Act and the Farm Transitions Act would help rural communities build long-term capacity and ease the path for property heirs to carry on as producers.
“We’re committed to ensuring rural communities have the tools they need to grow, thrive, and prepare for the future,” said Davis, who like Adams, is a Democrat and member of the House Agriculture Committee. “From expanding access to federal rural development resources to supporting the next generation of family farmers, this work is critical to the long-term success of eastern North Carolina and rural communities nationwide.”
There are also local efforts to engage small-scale farmers.
North Carolina A&T State University’s cooperative extension program launched Small Farms Week in 1975 to recognize producers – especially those in small communities with limited resources – and educate the public about their role in the state’s $111 billion agriculture economy.
The 40th annual Small Farms Week in March will include workshops, hands-on demonstrations, and the 2026 Small Farmers of the Year announcement.
“One of the reasons we launched Small Farms Week was to give small farmers and small-scale producers recognition for their excellence and the hard work they do to enable families to put fresh, healthy food on their tables,” said M. Ray McKinnie Ph.D., extension administrator and associate dean of A&T’s College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. “Forty years later, it’s more important than ever to shine a light on our small farmers as they deal with the financial, environmental, intellectual and emotional realities of producing food and fiber in a world where change is constant.”
The week will include a TED Talk-style lunch for the sharing of challenges and successes, a peer-learning gathering where farmers rotate among tables hosted by specialists, field staff and researchers, and a networking workshop where resources from business development loans to educational materials and tools for physical, social and emotional well-being are made available. As climate change continues to alter the agriculture landscape, extension agents are stepping in to help producers.
“Hurricane Helene did more than flood farmers’ fields; it wiped out entire communities and eliminated ways of life,” McKinnie said. “Farming is a passion, not just a job, and as extension professionals, we must understand what that means and offer assistance and relief as more severe weather events threaten our farms and ways of life.”
Ajilore believes Black farmers will carry on – regardless of challenges.
“I tend to be somewhat optimistic about this, that there’s always going to be people who want to farm, and as difficult as it may be, always going to find a way through,” he said. “Now, the number of people that may could continue to go down, but I just think about there’s certain … people who’ve been farming for generations, and they like the act of farming. It’s more than just ‘we want to make money.’ There’s a calling to that. There’s always going to be people hear that calling, but the issue is can we make it not difficult for them to do it, to be able
