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US agriculture agency to end consideration of race, sex in many farm programs
UNITED STATES, JUL 10 – The USDA ends race- and sex-based criteria in farm programs following legal challenges and prior payments to tens of thousands of farmers who experienced past bias, officials said.
- On July 11, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture declared it would stop considering applicants' race or gender in numerous loan, commodity, and conservation initiatives.
- This change followed Trump administration directives to dismantle federal diversity and equity policies and the USDA's view that past bias has been sufficiently addressed.
- The USDA cited decades of efforts, settlements, and reforms addressing discrimination against Black, Brown, Indigenous, and other socially disadvantaged farmers, but critics say the move erases history and hinders equity tools.
- The USDA announced it will discontinue the use of race or gender as factors in its decision-making, emphasizing a commitment to merit-based and fair program administration, while Representative Shontel Brown criticized this shift as President Trump’s agenda to reintroduce segregation within the agency.
- This policy shift ends targeted support programs, raising concerns about fairness and equity, with calls for congressional action to protect historically underserved farmers.
18 Articles
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USDA Ends Use of Race and Sex in Farm Benefit Eligibility
The Department of Agriculture will no longer consider a farmer’s race or sex in determining eligibility for benefits in many of its farm loan, commodity, and conservation programs, the agency said in a regulatory note. On July 10, the Department of Agriculture published a final rule that ends the agency’s decades-long use of the “socially disadvantaged” designation. The designation was aimed at addressing historic discrimination against nonwhite…
Rep. Shontel Brown decries ‘resegregation’ as minority farmers lose ‘socially disadvantaged’ USDA status
Rep. Shontel Brown, a Warrensville Heights Democrat and House Agriculture Committee Vice Ranking Member, called a move by the USDA to eliminate its “socially disadvantaged” designation in its programs "a deliberate and disgraceful step backward" in addressing historic discrimination.
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