Black Farmers Have Long Faced Discrimination. New Aid Aims To Right Past Wrongs

Tucked into President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief law are provisions meant to help Black farmers, who have faced generations of systemic discrimination.

As part of the American Rescue Plan, $4 billion is going toward debt relief for "socially disadvantaged" farmers to pay off debts that have prevented their farms from growing, the Department of Agriculture said. Another $1.01 billion is being used to create a racial equity commission.

Socially disadvantaged farmers are a group that includes African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans and Native Americans.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack said the plan is an "acknowledgement that acts of discrimination took place. And that you not only have the specific result of the act, but that there is a cumulative effect of being discriminated against that grows over time. And in order for us to have an equitable and a fair USDA, it's necessary for us to address that gap."

Over a century, official and unofficial policies and practices have decimated the number of Black farmers and the amount of land they farm.