Biden Announces $2 Billion in USDA Discrimination Payments

The government has issued $2 billion in payments to more than 43,000 farmers who suffered discrimination when they applied for USDA farm loans in the past, said President Biden on Wednesday. More than half of the recipients were producers in Mississippi and Alabama, who received a combined $905.5 million.

Congress provided funding for the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) in 2022 after lawsuits stymied a debt-relief plan aimed at farmers of color. Some 889 farmers received the maximum DFAP payment of $500,000.

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The USDA received more than 58,000 claims during a six-month application period that closed on Jan. 17. Each application was reviewed by two independent teams. Congress specified that the DFAP be run by third-party administrators. In the end, payments went to 23,000 farm and ranch operators, who received an average of nearly $82,000, and to 20,000 applicants who said they had planned a career in agriculture but were unable to get a USDA loan. They received an average of $5,000.

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The states with the largest payments were Mississippi, at $521.8 million, followed by Alabama ($383.7 million), Georgia ($137.3 million), North Carolina ($136.1 million), Arkansas ($106.8 million), and Oklahoma ($100.6 million). Mississippi had 13,283 recipients and Alabama had 10,907. No other state had more than 1,600. {snip} Payments went to every state, the District of Columbia, and three U.S. territories.

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