The U.S. Department of Agriculture celebrated the final convening of its Equity Commission on Sept. 25, 2024. (Screenshot from livestream courtesy of USDA)
Co-chairs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Equity Commission championed a “different” USDA during the commission’s final convening on Wednesday.
The Equity Commission formed in February of 2022 to take a critical look at USDA programs, evaluate where systemic barriers existed and provide recommendations to the Secretary of Agriculture.
The commission created books of recommendations, some of which have already been implemented. One recommendation went into effect Wednesday to make Farm Service Agency (FSA) farm loans more accessible.
The program changes give borrowers flexible repayment terms, reduced collateral, and the ability to defer up to one annual loan payment at a reduced interest rate.
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Ertharin Cousin, CEO for Food Systems for the Future and co-chair of the Equity Commission, said the USDA has often been described as “the people’s department,” even though many of the people who needed its assistance have not felt they could get that support in the past.
Cousin said she believes ongoing efforts toward equity will correct that.
“Every American who has any stakeholder interest … of the department is unabashed in outreaching to the department for those services, because of the responsiveness of the department to every American,” Cousin said when asked of her hopes for the program moving forward.
Cousin, along with co-chair Arturo Rodríguez and Willis Nelson, a third-generation farmer from Louisiana, sat on a panel in the USDA Headquarters in Washington D.C. to commemorate the close of the commission. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small moderated the panel and spoke on the accomplishments of the commission.
“Today is a day to reflect and a day to celebrate,” Torres Small said. “And to recognize that we will continue implementing this book.”
Torres Small highlighted some of the work of the commission, like better loan programs, improved technical support, funding and structure for rural development, summer nutrition programs, and $2 billion allocated to producers who have been discriminated against by USDA farm lending in the past. Many of these programs Torres Small pointed to directly in the commission’s final report from February 2024.
Nelson noted tangible changes since the commission came about. He was appointed to his state Farm Service Agency in 2023 and now his brother wants to run for a county level seat. He said these were positions they previously didn’t even know they could hold.
Nelson said he also feels more welcomed in USDA buildings, whereas before he felt like folks didn’t understand why he would be there.
“It’s a complete 180 from when I started,” Nelson said. “I feel equal, not 100% equal, but I feel like I’m part of the farming community now.”
Rodríguez, who is president emeritus of United Farm Workers of America, said he sees increased equity in the USDA from its treatment of farm workers. He said now farm workers are considered in disaster relief programs, which is something he’d previously had to fight for.
“This USDA is much different, in the sense that it takes action, as opposed to just looking at what the problem is and not doing anything about it,” Rodríguez said.
Cousin said another priority of the department is to better serve small and medium-sized farms by providing a variety of financial resources.
“The mantra of ‘get big or get out’ no longer rules the work of the department,” Cousin said. “And that makes a difference in providing prosperity opportunities for all.”
Cousin said to be able to meet food demands in the future, all types and all sizes of producers need to work together and be adequately supported by the department.
“It’s not about them versus us,” she said. “We need all of our farmers to be as productive and as lucrative in the work that they perform as possible.”
The 15-person commission was made up of professionals from different backgrounds, communities and farming experiences, which panelists said was vital to the commission’s goal.
“The hardest part was getting each of those members to trust each other enough that they were willing to compromise to achieve a collective outcome, without whitewashing the history of where they’d come from,” Cousin said. “Everyone was willing to do it. This report reflects that shared outcome.”
USDA has implemented many of the recommendations of the commission, but others require legislative action. Many of the highlights at the Wednesday event were part of Biden-Harris administration funding programs like the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
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