Fixing Discrimination In The USDA

On July 21st, Just the News posted an article about changes in the disaster relief program standards for farmers.

The article reports:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has ended the Biden-era disaster relief program standards for farmers based on race and sex, which was praised by a legal watchdog that had been fighting the policies in court.

The USDA “has independently determined that it will no longer employ the race- and sex-based ‘socially disadvantaged’ designation to provide increased benefits based on race and sex in the programs at issue in this regulation,” the department said in its formal notice earlier this month.

The Southeastern Legal Foundation said  the USDA’s notice was in direct response to the watchdog’s victory in court in the case Strickland v. USDA. SLF’s lawsuit stopped eight disaster relief programs from the Biden administration that gave funds to farmers on the basis of race and sex, excluding white male farmers.

I am not a farmer, but it seems to me that disasters don’t discriminate according to race or sex. A flood or a drought is a flood or a drought.

The article concludes:

“Farming is one of the most important and difficult occupations in the world, where their hard work directly impacts everyone. They have to be able to do their jobs without having to worry about DEI nonsense, and we hope to see any forms of discrimination in federal programs come to a complete halt.”

A level playing field is always the best solution to any problem.