Democrats reset effort to compensate farmers of color as part of new spending package

Two provisions that have been quietly tucked into the newly signed Inflation Reduction Act aim to provide financial relief to farmers of color who say they have been discriminated against over the years.

The law gives the US Department of Agriculture another opportunity to remedy racial disparities within the agency in recent years. An earlier effort, passed as part of the Covid-19-related American Rescue Plan in early 2021, has been challenged in court by some White farmers who complain that the effort to remedy longstanding inequities by wiping the debt of only farmers of color was itself discriminatory.

Under the new law, farmers of