US Allocates Over $4Bln In Relief To Black Farmers Experiencing Discrimination - Reports

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2022) The Biden administration is utilizing the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to provide more than $4 billion in financial relief to black farmers in the United States who have experienced discrimination, CNN reported.

"Two provisions that have been quietly tucked into the newly signed Inflation Reduction Act aim to provide financial relief to farmers of color who say they have been discriminated against over the years," the report said on Thursday. "The law gives the US Department of Agriculture another opportunity to remedy racial disparities within the agency in recent years."

The measure provides $3.1 billion to help black farmers who experienced discrimination and allocates an additional $1 billion to the newly formed US Department of Agriculture Equity Commission for general assistance, the report said.

The McKinsey Institute for Black Economic Mobility and McKinsey's Global Agriculture Practice identified in a 2021 study a number of factors that have hindered Black farmers in the United States.

They include land loss enabled by the lack of legal protections that facilitated intergenerational property transfers, discriminatory lending practices, among other factors, the report said.

In 2021, the Biden administration's effort to make $4 billion available to black farmers failed because white farmers challenged the measure in court. The latter complained that the US Federal government's goal to remedy enduring disparities and unfair practices by canceling the black farmers' debt was discriminatory.

National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd Jr., a fourth generation farmer himself, said the existing policy has been bad for black farmers, the report said.�

Boyd noted that there already was a 120% debt relief for farmers but was repealed and a very broad language is now being used that includes white farmers as well as items that may be used to discriminate such as age, the report added.

Boyd noted that one can get discriminated on the account of race but the existing problem cannot be fixed by race, according to the report.