{"id":28587,"date":"2021-01-19T00:01:08","date_gmt":"2021-01-19T04:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/?p=28587"},"modified":"2021-01-19T10:34:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T14:34:48","slug":"take-action-tell-the-biden-usda-and-congress-to-protect-covid-relief-for-black-indigenous-people-of-color-and-military-veteran-farmers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondpesticides.org\/dailynewsblog\/2021\/01\/take-action-tell-the-biden-usda-and-congress-to-protect-covid-relief-for-black-indigenous-people-of-color-and-military-veteran-farmers\/","title":{"rendered":"Take Action: Tell the Biden USDA and Congress to Protect COVID relief for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and Military Veteran Farmers!"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Beyond Pesticides<\/em>, January 19, 2021) Inadequate funding proposed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for the Outreach and Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program (also known as the \u201cSection 2501\u201d program) fails to address historic discrimination and inadequate assistance for farmers of color and military veteran farmers. Funding for the Section 2501 program, which for three decades, has been the only farm bill program specifically addressing needs of these underserved populations in agriculture is smaller this year, placing undue stress on already stretched-thin community organizations working to respond to farmers during this unprecedented period of prolonged economic hardship.<\/p>\n

Tell the Biden USDA to ensure that the full Section 2501 funding reaches farmers of color and military veteran farmers.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Since 1990, the goal of the Section 2501 program has been to increase historically underserved farmers’ awareness of and access to USDA resources\u2014addressing the historic inequities that farmers of color, or socially disadvantaged farmers, faced in accessing USDA programs, including Farm Service Agency (FSA) loans. Congress added military veterans to the program in 2014 as an additional underserved audience. Section 2501 grants provide funding to community-based organizations and minority-serving academic institutions to conduct critical outreach and technical assistance to communities of color and veterans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, USDA has redirected $2 million of this funding, along with $2 million redirected from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) conservation technical assistance funds to a separate, administratively created initiative. USDA’s a new Centers for Community Prosperity initiative seeks to address economic development in persistent poverty communities, with a focus on faith-based initiatives. This new program is less focused on socially disadvantaged farmers and much more prescriptive in project design than the Section 2501 program. In total, USDA diverted $4.2 million into this new initiative.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Congress recently provided an additional $40 million for the Section 2501 grant program in its latest COVID relief bill passed in December 2020. Please urge USDA to ensure this funding goes directly to Section 2501 grantees and reaches socially disadvantaged farmers, and not be used for any other initiative\u2014such as the Centers for Community Prosperity.<\/p>\n

Tell the Biden USDA to ensure that the full Section 2501 funding reaches farmers of color and military veteran farmers.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Letter to Congress<\/strong><\/p>\n

As the COVID-19 pandemic drags on, farmers across the country are struggling to keep their farms afloat and plan for the uncertainty that the coming year holds. While farmers have suffered from several years of depressed prices, uncertainty in trade markets, and the increasingly severe impacts of climate change, the already tenuous livelihoods of our nation\u2019s most chronically underserved farmers\u2014particularly Black, Indigenous, and people of color farmers\u2013were made worse this year as a result of the pandemic. I am increasingly concerned about the sustainability of our nation\u2019s most underserved farmers who often not only have the fewest resources to draw on but also are most in need of emergency relief and long-term support in these challenging times\u2014as well as the nation\u2019s food security that depends on them.<\/p>\n

As you know, Congress recently passed its fourth round of emergency relief to help farmers, small businesses, health care professionals, households and communities across the country combat the worsening impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. As directed in the farm bill, the $80 million in additional\u00a0 USDA funding is to be divided equally between USDA\u2019s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Development Program and the Outreach and Technical Assistance for Socially Disadvantaged and Veteran Farmers and Ranchers Program, also known as the Section 2501 Program.<\/p>\n

I urge you to make sure that USDA moves expeditiously to grant these additional Section 2501 funds to eligible entities with the skills and experience to reach socially disadvantaged and veteran farmers and ranchers, including those most impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. It is my expectation, as is shared by Congress, that the additional $40 million in funding to be directed to the Section 2501 grant program will support projects as authorized under the farm bill and will not be diverted to any other administrative initiative or purpose, such as the Centers for Community Prosperity.<\/p>\n

In the fact of the future uncertainty of the ultimate impacts of the pandemic on our food system and communities of color, please pressure USDA to distribute the additional Section 2501 grants in a way that ensures organizations have resources over the coming years to respond to their community\u2019s needs. USDA should also use the additional funding to increase the total grant award amount to its statutory level of $250,000 per year. Finally, I share the expectation of Congress that USDA will ensure that any project funded with these additional funds complies with the statutory requirements laid out in the farm bill\u2014that it:<\/p>\n