Black farmer harvests cabbage crop
By: John Zippert, Co-Publisher
In a recent zoom call with USDA cooperating organizations, a USDA spokesperson said that they had received 62,000 applications in the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP). Of these there were 4,000 duplicate or revised applications, which brought the total applications to 58,000.
The DFAP applicants filled out a forty-page application, providing identifying information, type of applicant, eligibility as a farmer, eligibility as a farm loan borrower or attempted borrower, description of the discriminatory treatment they encountered, economic losses from discrimination, participation in prior claims, complaints and appeals, attachment of documents and additional information, and finally signatures and certifications. Various forms of documentation including land deeds, farm leases, USDA correspondence, farm organization memberships, declarations by friends and neighbors, income tax and farm records and other information to support their case, were required.
USDA officials said all applications have been scanned into a data base with supporting documentation. About half of the applications were submitted online, while the rest were handwritten. Some applicants have received letters asking them to correct deficiencies in their applications, dealing with identification and other required information.
The applications will now be read by a panel of evaluators. Each application will be read and scored by two evaluators. If they materially disagree then a third evaluator will be brought in to decide on the application. After all applications are evaluated, then the third-party evaluators, will recommend a payment plan to USDA based on the $2.2 billion available for the DFAP program from the Inflation Reduction Act.
The USDA officials said that their analysis of the DFAP applications was preliminary and subject to change and further refinement. They said 80% of the applicants never received a USDA farm loan, of the other 20% most received a direct loan and very few received a guaranteed loan. This complies with the experience of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives which has found that more than 80% of their Black farmer members, were not able to get a USDA farm loan.
The USDA spokespersons said, 80% of the applicants listed race as the basis of their discrimination and the overwhelming number of these were Black farmers. About 6.5% were Native Americans. The remainder were Hispanics or had other basis for discrimination beyond race.
They said most of the applicants were from the Black Belt South, with the greatest numbers coming from Alabama and Mississippi, with others from the Carolinas, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, California, and other states.
The USDA officials said they hoped to complete the DFAP evaluation process by the end of the summer and send out checks in late August or early September.
The Federation of Southern Cooperatives, Rural Coalition, Intertribal Agriculture Council, and other cooperating organizations are planning to continue to monitor the process to its conclusion. “We hope every farmer will get a detailed comment on their application and the reasoning for the payment they receive. We also hope for a report, down to the county level of applications received and funded, so we can continue to monitor for improvement in the USDA’s farm lending program,” said Tandelyn Daniel with the Federation.