The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday it would no longer consider a farmer’s race or sex in many of its farm loan, commodity and conservation programs, ending a longstanding effort by the agency to address its history of discrimination.
The move was made to align with the Trump administration’s directives to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion policies across the federal government and because the USDA has adequately addressed past bias, the agency said in a final rule.
“Moving forward, USDA will no longer apply race- or sex-based criteria in its decision-making processes, ensuring that its programs are administered in a manner that upholds the principles of meritocracy, fairness, and equal opportunity for all participants,” said the rule, signed by acting General Counsel Ralph Linden.
The USDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Black farmers and other under-represented groups in agriculture have long alleged discrimination in the agency’s lending and farm programs. As recently as 2024, the USDA made payments to tens of thousands of farmers who experienced past bias.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Faith Novak
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://www.offthepress.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.
