Source: NATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE COALITION, 5/4/21


As farmers all across the country enter the busy season of spring planting, policymakers are busy in the nation’s Capital as well getting ready to roll out important relief provisions included in the latest round of COVID-19 aid. Congress passed its fifth round of relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic – The American Rescue Plan – earlier this spring, which included $5 billion in direct aid for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) farmers.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is charged with implementing this provision, with the Farm Service Agency (FSA) responsible for distributing the approximately $4 billion in farm debt relief payments for BIPOC producers who have farm loans made directly by FSA or through private lenders (i.e. Farm Credit, ag banks) with USDA guarantees. While payments have yet to be issued to farmers, the new Administration is working quickly to get urgent relief to some of our nation’s most hard-hit and persistently underserved farmers in the country.

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