An NPR data analysis shows Black farmers were accepted for USDA direct loans at a lower rate than other racial groups in 2022. Direct loans are supposed to be among the easiest for farmers to get.
Congress ended the temporary benefit meant to help low-income households with pandemic-era hardships. A huge increase in Social Security benefits may mean some households see further SNAP reductions.
Students in metro Atlanta schools get the chance to mingle with barnyard animals and learn about food production as part of a new USDA initiative to get young Georgians interested in agriculture.
Georgia recently joined 22 other states in a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They’re pushing back against federal guidelines around school lunch funding as schools open across Georgia.
Grocery stores provide healthy foods, create jobs and offer a place for community connection. "We started calling them front-line and essential workers for a reason," says one food access advocate.
Former Trump administration officials and conservative and libertarian nonprofits have launched lawsuits to block federal relief funds aimed at Black and minority farmers.
A new federal program created by the Biden administration to reverse years of economic discrimination against U.S. farmers of color has ground to a halt.
The U.S. Agriculture Department is sending aid for debt relief to struggling farmers of color beginning this month. But many Black farmers distrust the department after decades of failed promises.
Next month, some Black farmers will be able to access part of $4 billion set aside for debt cancellation. It’s a historic amount of money, courtesy of the American Rescue Plan, aimed at redressing generations of inequity in farm lending by the federal government. But for some, this aid does not go far enough.
Rep. Sanford Bishop, an Albany Democrat and chair of the Agriculture, Rural Development and FDA Subcommittee, raised concerns about food insecurity, which has been exacerbated due to the pandemic.