­Debt Relief for Farmers of Color

The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021 promised $4 billion in debt relief for farmers and ranchers of color to mitigate the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on a population previously excluded from government resources and support. In response to this attempt to address the unique vulnerability of farmers of color due to historic structural racism, lawsuits in 12 states across the country (see below) accused USDA of discrimination against white farmers for providing relief to farmers of color, stalling the administration of ARPA funds.

FarmSTAND (formerly the Food Project at Public Justice) represented the National Black Farmers Association and Association of American Indian Farmers to defend debt relief for farmers of color. In 2022, Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act, providing similar debt relief to ‘economically disadvantaged farmers’ and effectively nullifying the lawsuits. Our clients continue their fight for debt relief that targets their communities, given the unique racial discrimination and harm they endure.

For decades, farmers of color have experienced racial discrimination from the United States Department of Agriculture. Leaders and members of our client organizations, the National Black Farmers Association and Association of American Indian Farmers, have personally endured bigotry from USDA staff, supervisory loans that restrict where money can be spent, and exclusion from certain loan programs that white farmers benefitted from. Farmers of color have a long, rich history of working with the land as stewards. But in a system that is built to work against them, they cannot farm or keep their land.

FarmSTAND represented the National Black Farmers Association and Association of American Indian Farmers to defend debt relief for farmers of color. We moved to conditionally intervene in the cases and submitted amicus briefs on behalf of NBFA and AAIF in support of USDA’s right to distribute the relief. These briefs tell the important stories of farmers of color who experienced discrimination from USDA and were counting on the debt relief they were promised. Read the amicus brief and declarations here.

See the list of cases in which FarmSTAND defended debt relief for farmers of color on behalf of NBFA and AAIF:

1. Miller v. Vilsack, Case No. 4:21-cv-595 (Northern District of Texas)
2. Faust v. Vilsack, Case No. 21-cv-00548 (Eastern District of Wisconsin)
3. Wynn v. Vilsack, Case No. 3:21-cv-514 (Middle District of Florida)
4. Carpenter v. Vilsack, Case No. 21-cv-103-F (District of Wyoming)
5. Holman v. Vilsack, Case No. 1:21-cv-1085 (Western District of Tennessee)
6. Morton v. Vilsack, Case No. 3:21-cv-540 (Southern District of Illinois) (formerly Kent v. Vilsack)
7. McKinney v. Vilsack, Case No. 2:21-cv-212 (Eastern District of Texas)
8. Joyner v. Vilsack, Case No. 1:21-cv-1089 (Western District of Tennessee)
9. Dunlap v. Vilsack, Case No. 2:21-cv-942 (District of Oregon)
10. Rogers v. Vilsack, Case No. 1:21-cv-1779 (District of Colorado)
11. Tiegs v. Vilsack, Case No. 3:21-cv-147 (District of North Dakota)
12. Nuest v. Vilsack, Case No. 21-cv-1572 (District of Minnesota)

Selected trial briefs and orders from the 12 cases are below. Briefs are listed first followed by orders.