RUCKERSVILLE, Va. — Ralph Morton is a third-generation farmer in Virginia’s Greene County. His family are the only Black farmers in the area.
Both Morton’s father and grandfather experienced discrimination while trying to secure loans from the USDA’s Farm Service Agency, an experience that Black farmers across the country still deal with.
Last year, 27 percent of complaints filed against the USDA were because of race-based discrimination against Black and African American farmers.
In 2023, Congress introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act, a legislation meant to include equity and social justice elements in the new Farm Bill. Partisan debates have stalled the bill.
