It’s Time to Institutionalize Equity at the Department of Agriculture

Equity, the central tool in building justice, is now a contentious topic as anti-DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) forces challenge programs, initiatives, and public policies that were designed to uplift and assist those most underserved and disadvantaged in society-an aftermath of the Supreme Court striking down affirmative action. These opponents do so in the name of "colorblind" equality but fail to understand the words of legal scholar and writer Kimberlé Crenshaw that "treating different things the same can generate as much inequality as treating the same things differently." Herein lies the difference between policies producing equity versus those only promoting equality.

American agriculture and its food system are riddled with longstanding injustices and inequities from decades of discrimination, bias, and unfairness that limited access to services and benefits for small-scale, Black, Indigenous, beginning, and other underserved farmers. Though white people make up only 58.4% of the US population, 95.4% of farmers are white and farmland continues to be consolidated into the hands of the wealthy few. Black farmers have faced decades of discrimination and continue to be discriminated against, workers continue to be exploited, and marginalized communities continue to live in a system of food apartheid.

These injustices stem from creating systemic policies with a "get big or get out" mentality that privileges large white farmers, consolidates corporate power in the food system, and excludes and disadvantages small farmers. And one of the main contributors to this longstanding sordid history is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is why farmers of color and activists were heartened, though skeptical, to see the creation of a USDA Equity Commission that might hopefully begin to turn the tide.

What is the USDA Equity Commission?

In January 2021, President Biden signed an executive order committed to closing the racial wealth gap and addressing longstanding inequities in agriculture. Congressionally authorized by section 1006 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) and reauthorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, the USDA launched its 15-member independent Equity Commission in February 2022 to provide recommendations to the secretary of agriculture on policies, programs, and practices needed to address systemic equity issues and end longstanding discrimination across the department.

The commission's membership consisted of representatives from farmworker organizations, community-based organizations, and individuals with a diverse knowledge of civil rights, public policy, organizational development, DEI, and legal expertise. It met six times over the past two years to discuss deeply rooted equity issues within the USDA. These wide-ranging issues included structural problems in the workforce, the local county committee system, and the complaint process; programmatic problems in farm, nutrition assistance, rural development, and credit programs; and issues related to Tribal sovereignty and agricultural workers.

What did the commission recommend?

The commission culminated its tenure with an Equity Summit and released its final report in February 2024. As noted within the report, the commission identified various issues including the "lack of workforce diversity, cumbersome program processes, lack of technical assistance, county committee adverse impacts, and civil rights accountability and program complaints."

The report then provides 66 recommendations broken down into nine areas: department-wide equity, working with farmers day-to-day, supporting farmworkers and their families, strengthening research and extension programs, equitable nutrition assistance, immigrants and their families, and three sections around equitable rural development, communities, and economies. These recommendations span workforce training, structural changes within the department, language barriers, updating and simplifying programs and services for accessibility, and private-public partnerships.

Though these recommendations are a good starting point, members of the commission have raised concerns about the report, especially around Tribal sovereignty and opportunities in Indian Country.

What happens next?

Since the commission has completed its last convening, it is now time for the USDA to act expeditiously and implement the recommendations within its current authorities. Though many of the recommendations will likely need congressional authorization and appropriations, and should be included in the upcoming food and farm bill, there are immediate actions the Biden administration could take during its last 90 days in office. These can include:

• Institutionalizing equitable access to USDA services through recommendation #4, which would ensure equitable language and culturally competent access, and recommendation #5, which would improve the customer experience through customer feedback, service delivery, and program design.
• Institutionalizing equitable access to USDA programs through recommendation #15, which would address environmental justice through equitable climate actions in USDA conservation programs. This umbrella recommendation includes prioritizing small-scale and diversified farmers in research and working with local experts through cooperative agreements for linguistically and culturally appropriate technical assistance.
• Institutionalizing equitable partnerships that would improve USDA accessibility through recommendation #16, specifically by developing a dashboard of nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education that provide technical assistance to beginning, small-scale, and underserved farmers; and providing technical assistance training to nonprofit organizations that serve these farmers and communities.

One of the most important and ambitious recommendations that the USDA should move towards implementing is recommendation #21, which would establish an intradepartmental Office of Small Farms, as previously attempted in the early 2000s. Due to a deleterious big-business mentality that resulted in farmland and agribusiness consolidation, small farmers-often beginning farmers, low-income farmers, and farmers of color-are veering towards extinction. This administration and future administrations must center the revitalization of, and support for, these farmers within all areas of the department, from research to programs and services. A dedicated office would be the best pathway to lead to what a previous Commission on Small Farms recommended in 1998, establishing an Administrator of Small Farm Programs.

We are grateful for the work of the Equity Commission and the USDA in moving towards a more equitable and just food system. Equity is a necessary and fundamental tool to move to a more equal society, because promoting equality without producing equity will only lead to more inequality. These recommendations are a starting point for the USDA, as there is much more work to be done to truly reverse course from years of establishing and perpetuating injustices and inequities. The time to act is now!