View source for Organization:United States Department of Agriculture

{{redirect|USDA}}
{{short description|Department of United States government}}
{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name = United States Department of Agriculture
| logo = USDA logo.svg
| logo_width = 140px
| logo_caption = Logo of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
| picture = Flag of the United States Department of Agriculture.svg{{!}}border
| picture_caption = Flag of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
| seal = Seal of the United States Department of Agriculture.svg
| seal_width = 10px
| seal_caption = Seal of the U.S. Department of Agriculture
| formed = {{Start date and age|1862|5|15|mf=yes}}<br />Cabinet status: February 15, 1889
| preceding1 = Agricultural Division
| dissolved = 
| superseding = 
| jurisdiction = U.S. federal government
| headquarters = Jamie L. Whitten Building<br />1301 Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C.
| coordinates = {{coord|38|53|17|N|77|1|48|W|type:landmark_region:US-DC|display=inline,title}}
| employees = 105,778 (June 2007)
| budget = US$151 billion (2017)<ref name='budget'/>
| chief1_name = Tom Vilsack
| chief1_position = Secretary
| chief2_name = Jewel H. Bronaugh
| chief2_position = Deputy Secretary
| parent_agency = 
| website = {{URL|https://www.usda.gov|USDA.gov}}
| footnotes = 
| chief3_name = 
| chief3_position = 
| chief4_name = 
| chief4_position = 
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| parent_department = 
}}

The '''United States Department of Agriculture''' ('''USDA'''), also known as the '''Agriculture Department''', is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and production, works to assure food safety, protects natural resources, fosters rural communities and works to end hunger in the United States and internationally.

Approximately 80% of the USDA's $141&nbsp;billion budget goes to the [[Organization:Food and Nutrition Service|Food and Nutrition Service]] (FNS) program. The largest component of the FNS budget is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly known as the Food Stamp program), which is the cornerstone of USDA's nutrition assistance.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/HISTORY%20OF%20FNS.pdf |title=History of FNS |website=usda.gov |access-date=July 1, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160912141202/http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/HISTORY%20OF%20FNS.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-12 }}</ref> The United States Forest Service is the largest agency within the department, which administers national forests and national grasslands that together comprise about 25% of federal lands.

The Secretary of Agriculture is Tom Vilsack since February 24, 2021.

==Overview==
Many of the programs concerned with the distribution of food and nutrition to people of America and providing nourishment as well as nutrition education to those in need are run and operated under the USDA Food and Nutrition Service. Activities in this program include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which provides healthy food to over 40&nbsp;million low-income and homeless people each month.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ |title=FNS Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) |date=2013-06-21 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> USDA is a member of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usich.gov/member_agency |title=United States Interagency Council on Homelessness |website=USICH |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120424055302/http://www.usich.gov/member_agency |archive-date=2012-04-24 }}</ref> where it is committed to working with other agencies to ensure these mainstream benefits have been accessed by those experiencing homelessness.

The USDA also is concerned with assisting farmers and food producers with the sale of crops and food on both the domestic and world markets. It plays a role in overseas aid programs by providing surplus foods to developing countries. This aid can go through USAID, foreign governments, international bodies such as World Food Program, or approved nonprofits. The Agricultural Act of 1949, section 416 (b) and Agricultural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 1954, also known as Food for Peace, provides the legal basis of such actions. The USDA is a partner of the World Cocoa Foundation.

==History==
[[File:Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry (cropped).jpg|thumb|[[Harvey Washington Wiley]], Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture's Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff in 1883]]
The standard history is Gladys L. Baker, ed., ''Century of Service: The first 100 years of the United States Department of Agriculture'' (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1963).<ref>It is not copyright and is [https://archive.org/details/centuryofservice00unit online here for free download.].</ref>

===Origins in the Patent Office===
Early in its history, the American economy was largely agrarian. Officials in the federal government had long sought new and improved varieties of seeds, plants and animals for import into the United States. In 1837 Henry Leavitt Ellsworth became Commissioner of Patents in the Department of State. He began collecting and distributing new varieties of seeds and plants through members of the Congress and local agricultural societies. In 1839, Congress established the Agricultural Division within the Patent Office and allotted $1,000 for "the collection of agricultural statistics and other agricultural purposes."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=algT-6f3Y3wC&q=In+1839,+Congress+established+the+Agricultural+Division+within+the+Patent+Office+and+allotted+$1,000+for+%22the+collection+of+agricultural+statistics+and+other+agricultural+purposes&pg=PA1|title=History of Human Nutrition Research in the U. S. Department of Agriculture|publisher=Government Printing Office|isbn=9780160943843|language=en}}</ref> Ellsworth's interest in aiding agriculture was evident in his annual reports that called for a public depository to preserve and distribute the various new seeds and plants, a clerk to collect agricultural statistics, the preparation of statewide reports about crops in different regions, and the application of chemistry to agriculture.{{cn|date=May 2021}} Ellsworth was called the "Father of the Department of Agriculture."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Ellsworth, Henry Leavitt, 1791-1858 - Social Networks and Archival Context|url=https://snaccooperative.org/ark:/99166/w6s75kkx|access-date=2020-09-19|website=snaccooperative.org}}</ref>

In 1849, the Patent Office was transferred to the newly created Department of the Interior. In the ensuing years, agitation for a separate bureau within the department or a separate department devoted to agriculture kept recurring.{{cn|date=May 2021}}

===History===
[[File:Main Building of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. (no original caption) - NARA - 512817.jpg|thumb|right|The first Department of Agriculture Building on the National Mall around 1895]]
[[File:USDA Bldg., Washington, D.C. IMG 4787.JPG|thumb|right|The Jamie L. Whitten Building in Washington D.C. is the current USDA headquarters.]]
On May 15, 1862, Abraham Lincoln established the independent Department of Agriculture to be headed by a commissioner without Cabinet status. Agriculturalist Isaac Newton was appointed to be the first commissioner.<ref>12 Stat. 387, now codified at [https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/07/2201- 7 U.S.C. § 2201].</ref>  Lincoln called it the "people's department."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Salvador |first1=Ricardo |last2=Bittman |first2=Mark |title=Opinion: Goodbye, U.S.D.A., Hello, Department of Food and Well-Being |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/03/opinion/usda-agriculture-secretary-biden.html |access-date=10 December 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=4 December 2020}}</ref>

In 1868, the department moved into the new Department of Agriculture Building in Washington, designed by famed DC architect Adolf Cluss. Located on the National Mall between 12th Street and 14th SW, the department had offices for its staff and the entire width of the Mall up to B Street NW to plant and experiment with plants.<ref>Evening Star - June 18, 1868 - page 4 - column 4</ref>

In the 1880s, varied advocacy groups were lobbying for Cabinet representation. Business interests sought a Department of Commerce and Industry, and farmers tried to raise the Department of Agriculture to Cabinet rank. In 1887, the House of Representatives and Senate passed separate bills giving Cabinet status to the Department of Agriculture and Labor, but the bill was defeated in conference committee after farm interests objected to the addition of labor. Finally, in 1889 the Department of Agriculture was given cabinet-level status.<ref>25 Stat 659 (February 9, 1889)</ref>

In 1887, the Hatch Act provided for the federal funding of [[Earth:Agricultural experiment station|agricultural experiment station]]s in each state. The Smith-Lever Act of 1914 then funded cooperative extension services in each state to teach agriculture, home economics, and other subjects to the public. With these and similar provisions, the USDA reached out to every county of every state.<ref>David B. Danbom, "The agricultural experiment station and professionalization: Scientists' goals for agriculture." ''Agricultural History'' 60.2 (1986): 246-255 [http://sites.tufts.edu/newfoodactivism/files/2013/01/danbom-ag-exp-stn.pdf online].</ref>

===New Deal era===
By 1933 the Department was well established in Washington and very well known in rural America. In the agricultural field the picture was different. Statisticians created a comprehensive data-gathering arm in the Division of Crop and Livestock Estimates. Secretary Henry Wallace, a statistician, further strengthened the expertise by introducing sampling techniques. Professional economists ran a strong Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Most important was the agricultural experiment station system, a network of state partners in the land-grant colleges, which in turn operated a large field service in direct contact with farmers in practically every rural county. The Department worked smoothly with a nationwide, well-organized pressure group, the [[Organization:American Farm Bureau Federation|American Farm Bureau Federation]]. It represented the largest commercial growers before Congress.<ref>David M. Kennedy, ''Freedom from fear: The American people in depression and war, 1929-1945'' (1999). p 203.</ref>

As late as the [[Finance:Great Depression|Great Depression]], farm work occupied a fourth of Americans. Indeed, many young people who moved to the cities in the prosperous 1920s returned to the family farm after the depression caused unemployment after 1929. The USDA helped ensure that food continued to be produced and distributed to those who needed it, assisted with loans for small landowners, and provided technical advice. Its Bureau of Home Economics, established in 1923, published shopping advice and recipes to stretch family budgets and make food go farther.<ref name="Square Meal">{{cite book |last1=Ziegelman |first1=Jane |last2=Coe |first2=Andrew |title=A Square Meal: A Culinary History of the Great Depression |date=2016 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-06-221641-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/squaremealculina0000zieg }}</ref>

It was revealed on August 27, 2018, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture would be providing U.S. farmers with a farm aid package, which will total $4.7&nbsp;billion in direct payments to American farmers. This package is meant to offset the losses farmers are expected to incur from retaliatory tariffs placed on American exports during the Trump tariffs.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-farmers/u-s-government-to-pay-4-7-billion-in-tariff-related-aid-to-farmers-idUSKCN1LC23X|title=U.S. government to pay $4.7 billion in tariff-related aid to farmers|last=Editorial|first=Reuters|work=U.S.|access-date=2018-08-28|language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Racial discrimination ===
As part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the USDA formally ended racial segregation among its staff.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Kimberley S.|date=2011|title=Racial Orders, Congress, and the Agricultural Welfare State, 1865–1940|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/studies-in-american-political-development/article/racial-orders-congress-and-the-agricultural-welfare-state-18651940/98D7DBF046EB25BFBD65DAD51DBF07B0|journal=Studies in American Political Development|language=en|volume=25|issue=2|pages=143–161|doi=10.1017/S0898588X11000095|issn=1469-8692|doi-access=free}}</ref>

In the 1999 ''Pigford v. Glickman'' class action lawsuit brought by African American farmers, the USDA agreed to a billion-dollar settlement due to its patterns of discrimination in the granting of loans and subsidies to black farmers.<ref name=":0" />

=== COVID-19 relief ===
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress allocated funding to the USDA for the '''Coronavirus Food Assistance Program'''. This provided $16&nbsp;billion for farmers and ranchers, and $3&nbsp;billion to purchase surplus produce, dairy, and meat from farmers for distribution to charitable organizations.<ref name="USDA-Coronavirus">{{cite web|title=USDA Announces Coronavirus Food Assistance Program |url=https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/04/17/usda-announces-coronavirus-food-assistance-program |website=www.usda.gov |language=en |access-date=2020-04-30 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200519132829/https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2020/04/17/usda-announces-coronavirus-food-assistance-program |archive-date=2020-05-19}}</ref> As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA), USDA has up to an additional $873.3&nbsp;million available in Section 32 funding to purchase a variety of agricultural products for distribution to food banks, $850&nbsp;million for food bank administrative costs and USDA food purchases.<ref name="USDA-Coronavirus" />

==Organization and Component Staff Level==

USDA's offices and agencies are listed below, with full-time equivalent staff levels according to the estimated FY2019 appropriation, as reported in USDA's FY2020 Congressional Budget Justification.<ref name=budget>{{cite web |url=https://www.obpa.usda.gov/budsum/fy2020budsum.pdf |title=United States Department of Agriculture FY 2020 Budget Summary |publisher=U.S. Department of Agriculture |access-date=2019-11-04}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" colspan="2" | Component
! scope="col" | FTE 
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="17" | Staff Offices
Secretary of Agriculture
| Deputy Secretary of Agriculture
|
|-
|Agriculture Buildings and Facilities
|82
|-
|Departmental Administration
|385
|-
|Hazardous Materials Management
|4
|-
|Office of Budget and Program Analysis
|45
|-
|Office of Civil Rights
|130
|-
|Office of Communications
|73
|-
|Office of Ethics
|20
|-
|Office of Hearings and Appeals
|77
|-
|Office of Homeland Security
|58
|-
|Office of Inspector General
|482
|-
|Office of Partnerships and Public Engagement
|44
|-
|Office of the Chief Economist
|64
|-
|Office of the Chief Financial Officer
|1,511
|-
|Office of the Chief Information Officer
|1,157
|-
|Office of the General Counsel
|252
|-
|Office of the Secretary 
|113
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Farm Production and Conservation
Under Secretary for Farm Production and Conservation
|[[Organization:Farm Service Agency|Farm Service Agency]]
*Commodity Credit Corporation
|11,278
|-
|[[Organization:Risk Management Agency|Risk Management Agency]]
*[[Organization:Federal Crop Insurance Corporation|Federal Crop Insurance Corporation]]
|450
|-
|[[Organization:Natural Resources Conservation Service|Natural Resources Conservation Service]]
|10,798
|-
|Farm Production and Conservation Business Center
|1,879 (FY20 est.)
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1" | [[Organization:USDA Rural Development|Rural Development]]
Under Secretary for Rural Development
|[[Organization:Rural Housing Service|Rural Housing Service]], [[Organization:Rural Business-Cooperative Service|Rural Business-Cooperative Service]], [[Organization:Rural Utilities Service|Rural Utilities Service]]
|4,389
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1" | Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services
|[[Organization:Food and Nutrition Service|Food and Nutrition Service]]
|1,558
|-
! scope="row" | Food Safety
Under Secretary for Food Safety
|[[Organization:Food Safety and Inspection Service|Food Safety and Inspection Service]]
|9,332
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="1" | Natural Resources and Environment
Under Secretary for Natural Resources and Environment
|United States Forest Service
|30,539
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="2" | Marketing and Regulatory Programs
Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs
|[[Organization:Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service|Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service]]
|7,901
|-
|[[Organization:Agricultural Marketing Service|Agricultural Marketing Service]]
|3,694
|-
! scope="row" rowspan="4" | Research, Education, and Economics
Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics
|[[Organization:Agricultural Research Service|Agricultural Research Service]]
|6,166
|-
|National Institute of Food and Agriculture
|358
|-
|[[Organization:Economic Research Service|Economic Research Service]]
|330
|-
|[[Organization:National Agricultural Statistics Service|National Agricultural Statistics Service]]
|937
|-
! scope="row" colspan="1" | Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.usda.gov/media/press-releases/2017/05/11/secretary-perdue-announces-creation-undersecretary-trade|title=Secretary Perdue Announces Creation of Undersecretary for Trade|access-date=June 16, 2018}}</ref>
|Foreign Agricultural Service
|1,019
|-
! scope="row" colspan="2" | Total
| 93,253
|}
[[File:Consumer Reports - product testing - brine test for canned peas (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|A nutrition researcher considers canned peas]]

===Inactive Departmental Services===
*[[Organization:Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service|Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service]] (ASCS) (became part of the [[Organization:Farm Service Agency|Farm Service Agency]] in 1994)
*Animal Damage Control (renamed Wildlife Services)
*Soil Conservation Service (SCS) renamed [[Organization:Natural Resources Conservation Service|Natural Resources Conservation Service]]
*Section of Vegetable Pathology, Division of Botany (1887–90)<ref name="BPISAE">{{cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/guide-fed-records/groups/054.html |title=Records of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering [BPISAE&#93;: Administrative History |publisher=Archives.gov |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>
**Renamed Division of Vegetable Pathology (1890–95)<ref name="BPISAE" />

In 2015, then Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack expressed the desire to resign to [[Biography:Barack Obama|President Obama]]. The Washington Post reports that he said "There are days when I have literally nothing to do," he recalled thinking as he weighed his decision to quit."<ref name="washingtonpost1">{{cite web|last1=Jaffe |first1=Greg |last2=Eilperin |first2=Juliet |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/tom-vilsacks-lonely-fight-for-a-forgotten-rural-america/2016/09/26/62d7ee64-7830-11e6-ac8e-cf8e0dd91dc7_story.html |title=Tom Vilsack's lonely fight for a 'forgotten' rural America |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 26, 2016 |access-date=December 18, 2016}}</ref> President Obama did not accept his resignation but assigned him additional tasks of combating opioid addiction, a task usually not assigned to the Department of Agriculture.<ref name="washingtonpost1"/>

==Discrimination==
Allegations have been made that throughout the agency's history its personnel have discriminated against farmers of various backgrounds, denying them loans and access to other programs well into the 1990s.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=General Accounting Office |url=http://www.gao.gov/archive/1999/rc99038.pdf |title=USDA - Problems Continue to Hinder the Timely Processing of Discrimination Complaints |date=January 1999}}</ref> The effect of this discrimination has been the reduction in the number of African-American farmers in the United States.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Brooks |first=Roy L. |title=Atonement and Forgiveness: A New Model for Black Reparations |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=0-520-24813-9 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/atonementforgive0000broo/page/7 7–8] |url=https://archive.org/details/atonementforgive0000broo/page/7 }}</ref><!-- similar case, Garcia v. Veneman, sought to protect Hispanic farmers from the same sort of discrimination, and Love v. Vilsack was filed on behalf of female farmers--> Many black farmers across the nation experienced discrimination in their dealings with in-state USDA agencies. Across the nation, black farmers alleged, and the USDA later agreed, they were denied access to loans and subsidies provided by the government.<ref name=nytimes1>{{cite news |agency=ASSOCIATED PRESS |date=April 15, 1999 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E0D9143BF936A25757C0A96F958260 |title=Judge Approves Settlement for Black Farmers |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> On a national level, farm subsidies that were afforded to white farmers were not afforded to black farmers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/PersonOfWeek/story?id=131844&page=1 |title=ABC World News Tonight (2003) |publisher=Abcnews.go.com |date=2003-11-21 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> Since they were denied government loans, emergency or disaster assistance, and other aid, many black farmers lost their farms and homes.<ref name=BenEvans1>{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-06-28-1736680923_x.htm |author=Ben Evans |agency=Associated Press |title=Reopening black farmers' suits could cost billions |newspaper=USA Today |date=2008-06-28 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>

In 1999, the USDA settled a class action lawsuit, the Pigford Case, alleging discrimination against African-American farmers in the late twentieth century. The government's settlement of nearly $1 billion with more than 13,300 farmers was reportedly the largest civil rights claim to date.<ref name="Pickert">{{cite journal|url = http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2006058,00.html?xid=rss-fullnation-yahoo|title = When Shirley Sherrod Was First Wronged by the USDA|first = Kate|last = Pickert|date = July 23, 2010|journal = Time}}</ref> The 2008 Farm Bill provided for additional farmers to have their claims heard, as 70,000 had filed late in the original program.<ref name="Pickert"/> In 2010 the federal government made another $1.2 billion settlement in what is called ''Pigford II'' for outstanding claims.<ref name=CRS>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalaglawcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/assets/crs/RS20430.pdf |authors=Tadlock Cowan and Jody Feder |title=The Pigford Cases: USDA Settlement of Discrimination Suits by Black Farmers |publisher=Congressional Research Service |date=14 June 2011 |access-date=1 December 2011}}</ref>

===''Pigford v. Glickman''===
Following long-standing concerns, black farmers joined a class action discrimination suit against the USDA filed in federal court in 1997.<ref name=CRS /> An attorney called it "the most organized, largest civil rights case in the history of the country."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/race_relations/jan-june99/farmers_3-2.html |title=PBS The News Hour (1999) |publisher=PBS |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> Also in 1997, black farmers from at least five states held protests in front of the USDA headquarters in Washington, D.C.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7QOUqVlu5IC |title=Homecoming: The Story of African-American Farmers |authors=Charlene Gilbert, Quinn Eli |publisher=Beacon Press |date=2002 |access-date=2013-12-29|isbn=9780807009635 }}</ref> Protests in front of the USDA were a strategy employed in later years as the black farmers sought to keep national attention focused on the plight of the black farmers. Representatives of the National Black Farmers Association met with President Bill Clinton and other administration officials at the White House. And NBFA's president testified before the United States House Committee on Agriculture.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FywV4yVN5iIC |title=Treatment of minority and limited resource producers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture: ... |publisher=U.S. G.P.O. |date=Jan 1, 1997 |access-date=2013-12-29|isbn=9780160554100 }}</ref>

In ''Pigford v. Glickman'', U.S. Federal District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman approved the settlement and consent decree on April 14, 1999.<ref name=CRS/> The settlement recognized discrimination against 22,363 black farmers, but the NBFA would later call the agreement incomplete because more than 70,000 were excluded.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLKMFlLhCx0C |title=Where Rebels Roost... Mississippi Civil Rights Revisited |authors=M. Susan Orr Klopfer, Fred Klopfer, Barry Klopfer |publisher=Lulu Press |date=2005 |access-date=2013-12-29|isbn=9781411641020 }}</ref> Nevertheless, the settlement was deemed to be the largest-ever civil rights class action settlement in American history. Lawyers estimated the value of the settlement to be more than $2&nbsp;billion.<ref name=nytimes1/> Some farmers would have their debts forgiven.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1046266 |title=Black Farmers Lawsuit |publisher=NPR |date=March 2, 1999 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> Judge Friedman appointed a monitor to oversee the settlement.<ref name=nytimes1/> Farmers in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Georgia were among those affected by the settlement.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_2_97/ai_58411585 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120711212707/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_2_97/ai_58411585 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-11 |title=Southern farmers among those affected by court case}}</ref>

The NBFA's president was invited to testify before congress on this matter numerous times following the settlement, including before the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture on September 12, 2000, when he testified that many farmers had not yet received payments and others were left out of the settlement. It was later revealed that one DoJ staff "general attorney" was unlicensed while she was handling black farmers' cases.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0205/021105lb.htm |title=Unlicensed Hire |author=Daniel Pulliam |website=GOVEXEC.com |date=February 11, 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050416092038/http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0205/021105lb.htm |archive-date=2005-04-16 }}</ref> NBFA called for all those cases to be reheard.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ABOUT US|url=https://www.nationalblackfarmersassociation.org/about_us|access-date=2020-08-06|website=nbfa|language=en}}</ref> The ''Chicago Tribune'' reported in 2004 that the result of such longstanding USDA discrimination was that black farmers had been forced out of business at a rate three times faster than white farmers. In 1920, 1 in 7 U.S. farmers was African-American, and by 2004 the number was 1 in 100. USDA spokesman Ed Loyd, when acknowledging that the USDA loan process was unfair to minority farmers, had claimed it was hard to determine the effect on such farmers.<ref>{{cite news|first= Andrew |last=Martin |url=http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2004-08-08/news/0408080241_1_national-black-farmers-association-minority-farmers-white-farmers |title=USDA discrimination accused of withering black farmers |work=Chicago Tribune |date=2004-08-08 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref>

In 2006 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report highly critical of the USDA in its handling of the black farmers cases.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5362406 |title=Black Farmers Follow Up on USDA Grievances|publisher=National Public Radio |date=25 Apr 2006 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> NBFA continued to lobby Congress to provide relief. NBFA's Boyd secured congressional support for legislation that would provide $100&nbsp;million in funds to settle late-filer cases. In 2006 a bill was introduced into the House of Representatives and later the Senate by Senator George Felix Allen.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/29/AR2006092900152.html |title=Allen Unveils Bill to Help Black Farmers |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 29, 2006 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> In 2007 Boyd testified before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary about this legislation. As the organization was making headway by gathering Congressional supporters in 2007 it was revealed that some USDA Farm Services Agency employees were engaged in activities aimed at blocking Congressional legislation that would aid the black farmers.<ref>{{cite web |date=August 8, 2007 |url=http://obama.senate.gov/press/070808-usda_improper_lobbying/ |title=Obama: USDA Should Not Undermine Legislation to Help Black Farmers |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081111011207/http://obama.senate.gov/press/070808-usda_improper_lobbying/ |archive-date=2008-11-11 }}</ref> President [[Biography:Barack Obama|Barack Obama]], then a U.S. Senator, lent his support to the black farmers' issues in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thehill.com/campaign-2008/as-champion-of-black-farmers-obama-could-win-southern-votes-2007-09-19.html |title=The Hill newspaper (2007) |publisher=Thehill.com |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> A bill co-sponsored by Obama passed the Senate in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://obama.senate.gov/news/071217-senate_votes_to_1/ |title=Senate Votes to Reopen Black Farmers' Lawsuits |date=December 17, 2007 |agency=Associated Press |author=Ben Evans |access-date=2013-04-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081030221920/http://obama.senate.gov/news/071217-senate_votes_to_1/ |archive-date=2008-10-30 }}</ref>

In early June 2008 hundreds of black farmers, denied a chance to have their cases heard in the ''Pigford'' settlement, filed a new lawsuit against USDA.<ref>{{cite news |author=Ben Evans |agency=Associated Press |url=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jun04/0,4670,BlackFarmersLawsuit,00.html |title=Black farmers file new suit against USDA |publisher=FOXNews.com |date=June 4, 2008 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> The Senate and House versions of the black farmers bill, reopening black farmers discrimination cases, became law in June 2008.<ref name=BenEvans1/> Some news reports said that the new law could affect up to 74,000 black farmers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17722777 |title=Help Ahead for Black Farmers |publisher=NPR |date=December 31, 2007 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> In October 2008, the GAO issued a report criticizing the USDA's handling of discrimination complaints.<ref>{{cite news |last=Etter |first=Lauren |url=http://s.wsj.net/article/SB122472492972861173.html |title=USDA Faulted Over Minority Farmers |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal  |date=2008-10-23 |access-date=2013-12-29}}</ref> The GAO recommended an oversight review board to examine civil rights complaints.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/22/AR2008102203198.html |title=USDA Action On Bias Complaints Is Criticized |newspaper=The Washington Post |date= 2008-10-23 |access-date=2013-12-29 |first=Darryl |last=Fears}}</ref>

After numerous public rallies and an intensive NBFA member lobbying effort, Congress approved and Obama signed into law in December 2010 legislation that set aside $1.15&nbsp;billion to resolve the outstanding black farmers' cases.<ref>{{cite news |author=CNN Wire Staff |url=http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-08/politics/obama.black.farmers_1_national-black-farmers-association-minority-farmers-glickman-case?_s=PM:POLITICS |title=Obama signs measure funding black farmers settlement |publisher=CNN.com |date=2010-12-09 |access-date=2013-12-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031123858/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-08/politics/obama.black.farmers_1_national-black-farmers-association-minority-farmers-glickman-case?_s=PM%3APOLITICS |archive-date=2012-10-31 }}</ref> NBFA's John W. Boyd, Jr., attended the bill-signing ceremony at the White House. As of 2013, 90,000 African-American, Hispanic, female and Native American farmers had filed claims. It was reported that some had been found fraudulent, or transparently bogus. In Maple Hill, North Carolina by 2013, the number of successful claimants was four times the number of farms with 1 out of 9 African-Americans being paid, while "claimants were not required [by the USDA] to present documentary evidence that they had been unfairly treated or had even tried to farm." Lack of documentation is an issue complicated by the USDA practice of discarding denied applications after three years.<ref>{{cite news |title=U.S. Opens Spigot After Farmers Claim Discrimination |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/26/us/farm-loan-bias-claims-often-unsupported-cost-us-millions.html |access-date=April 26, 2013 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 25, 2013 |author=Sharon LaFraniere |quote=...claimants were not required to present documentary evidence that they had been unfairly treated or had even tried to farm.}}</ref>

==Related legislation==
<!-- This section is linked from List of United States federal legislation -->

{{Div col|colwidth=40em}}
* 1890, 1891, 1897, 1906 Meat Inspection Act
* 1906: Pure Food and Drug Act
* 1914: Cotton Futures Act
* 1916: Federal Farm Loan Act
* 1917: Food Control and Production Acts
* 1921: Packers and Stockyards Act
* 1922: [[Finance:Grain Futures Act|Grain Futures Act]]
* 1922: National Agricultural Conference
* 1923: Agricultural Credits Act
* 1930: Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act
* 1930: Foreign Agricultural Service Act
* 1933: Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA)
* 1933: Farm Credit Act
* 1935: Resettlement Administration
* 1936: Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act
* 1937: Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act
* 1941: National Victory Garden Program
* 1941: Steagall Amendment
* 1946: [[Organization:Farmers Home Administration|Farmers Home Administration]]
* 1946: National School Lunch Act PL 79-396
* 1946: Research and Marketing Act
* 1947: Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act PL 80-104
* 1948: Hope-Aiken Agriculture Act PL 80-897
* 1949: Agricultural Act PL 81-439 (Section 416 (b))
* 1954: Food for Peace Act PL 83-480
* 1954: Agricultural Act PL 83-690
* 1956: Soil Bank Program authorized
* 1956: Mutual Security Act PL 84-726
* 1957: Poultry Products Inspection Act PL 85-172
* 1958: Food Additives Amendment PL 85-929
* 1958: Humane Slaughter Act
* 1958: Agricultural Act PL 85-835
* 1961: Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act PL 87-128
* 1964: Agricultural Act PL 88-297
* 1964: Food Stamp Act PL 88-525
* 1964: Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Extension PL 88-305
* 1965: Appalachian Regional Development Act
* 1965: Food and Agriculture Act PL 89-321
* 1966: Child Nutrition Act PL 89-642
* 1967: Wholesome Meat Act PL 90-201
* 1968: Wholesome Poultry Products Act PL 90-492
* 1970: Agricultural Act PL 91-524
* 1972: Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act PL 92-516
* 1970: Environmental Quality Improvement Act
* 1970: Food Stamp Act PL 91-671
* 1972: Rural Development Act
* 1972: Rural Development Act Reform 3.31
* 1972: National School Lunch Act Amendments (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children) PL 92-433
* 1973: Agriculture and Consumer Protection Act PL 93-86
* 1974: Safe Drinking Water Act PL 93-523
* 1977: Food and Agriculture Act PL 95-113
* 1985: Food Security Act PL 99-198
* 1990: Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 PL 101-624 (This act includes the Organic Foods Production Act of 1990)
* 1996: Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act PL 104-127
* 1996: Food Quality Protection Act PL 104-170
* 2000: Agriculture Risk Protection Act PL 106-224
* 2002: Farm Security and Rural Investment Act PL 107-171
* 2008: Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 PL 110-246
* 2010: Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 PL 111-296
{{Div col end}}

==Images==
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px">
File:Hemp for Victory 1942.webm|thumbtime=00:07|''Hemp for Victory'', a short documentary produced by the department during World War II
File:Dept Agriculture kitchen cabinets farmhouse publication.jpg|A guide to improving farmhouse kitchens, put out by the department's Institute of Home Economics, Agricultural Research Service, in 1952
File:Dept Agriculture simplified clothing construction publication.jpg|A guide to making clothes, put out by the Institute of Home Economics in 1959
File:United States Department of Agriculture, Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building, Washington DC (12 June 2007).JPG|The Secretary of Agriculture's office is located in the Jamie L. Whitten Building.
File:USDA Visitors Center by Matthew Bisanz.JPG|USDA Visitor's Center in the Jamie L. Whitten Building.
File:Beagle Brigade - Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), U.S. Department of Agriculture.jpg|The Beagle Brigade is part of the USDA's [[Organization:Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service|Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service]].  This piece of luggage at Dulles Airport may contain contraband.
</gallery>

==See also==
{{colbegin}}
* Adjusted Gross Revenue Insurance
* [[Organization:Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation|Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization Corporation]]
* Congressional seed distribution
* United States farm bill, history of Congressional laws on agriculture
* United States Agricultural Society
* [[Finance:USDA home loan|USDA home loan]]
{{colend}}

==Notes and references==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==

* Baker, Gladys L. ed. ''Century of service: the first 100 years of the United States Department of Agriculture'' (US Department of Agriculture, 1963), the standard history; [https://archive.org/details/centuryofservice00unit online].
* Benedict, Murray R. "The Trend in American Agricultural Policy 1920-1949". ''Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft / Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics'' (1950) 106#1: 97–122 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40747300 online] 
* Benedict, Murray R. ''Farm policies of the United States, 1790-1950: a study of their origins and development'' (1966) 546pp [https://archive.org/details/farmpoliciesofun0000bene online]; also [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Farm_Policies_of_the_United_States_1790/UIny62slUL4C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=.+Farm+policies+of+the+United+States,+1790-1950:&pg=PA1&printsec=frontcover another copy]
* Cochrane, Willard W. ''The Development of American Agriculture: A Historical Analysis'' (2nd ed. U of Minnesota Press, 1993) 512pp.
* Cochrane, Willard W. and Mary Ellen Ryan. ''American Farm Policy: 1948-1973'' (U of Minnesota Press, 1976).
* CQ. ''Congress and the Nation'' (1965-2021), highly detailed coverage of each presidency since Truman; extensive coverage of agricultural policies. [https://archive.org/search.php?query=title%3A%28%22congress+and+the+nation%22%29&sort=-date online free to borrow]
* Coppess, Jonathan. ''The Fault Lines of Farm Policy: A Legislative and Political History of the Farm Bill'' (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). [https://www.amazon.com/Fault-Lines-Farm-Policy-Legislative/dp/149620512X/ excerpt]
* Gardner, Bruce L. "The federal government in farm commodity markets: Recent reform efforts in a long-term context." ''Agricultural History'' 70.2 (1996): 177–195. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/3744532 online]
* {{cite web |last=Griesbach |first=Rob |url=http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/ad_hoc/12000000BARCCentennial/BARC%20History%20Plants%201.pdf |title=BARC History: Bureau of Plant Industry |date=2010}}
* Matusow, Allen J. ''Farm policies and politics in the Truman years'' (1967) [https://archive.org/details/farmpoliciespoli0000unse online]
*  Orden, David  and Carl Zulauf. "Political economy of the 2014 farm bill." ''American Journal of Agricultural Economics'' 97.5 (2015): 1298–1311. [https://web.archive.org/web/20160401131433/http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/97/5/1298.full online]
* Sumner, Daniel A. "Farm subsidy tradition and modern agricultural realities." ''The 2007 Farm Bill and Beyond'' (2007): 29–33. [http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.411.284&rep=rep1&type=pdf online]
* Winters, Donald L. ''Henry Cantwell Wallace as Secretary of Agriculture, 1921-1924'' (1970)  
* Zulauf, Carl, and David Orden. "80 Years of Farm Bills—Evolutionary Reform." ''Choices'' (2016) 31#4  pp 1–7 [http://www.choicesmagazine.org/UserFiles/file/cmsarticle_551.pdf online]

=== Historiography===
* Zobbe, Henrik. "On the foundation of agricultural policy research in the United States." (Dept. of Agricultural Economics Staff Paper 02–08, Purdue University, 2002) [https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/28644/f online]

===Primary sources===

* Rasmussen, Wayne D., ed. ''Agriculture in the United States: a documentary history'' (4 vol, Random House, 1975) 3661pp.  [https://archive.org/details/agricultureinuni0000rasm vol 4 online]

==External links==
* {{Official website}}
* [https://www.usaspending.gov/#/agency/95 Department of Agriculture] on USAspending.gov
* [https://www.federalregister.gov/agencies/agriculture-department United States Department of Agriculture] in the ''Federal Register''
* [http://www.colby.edu/sts/97guide/nara07-18.html National Archives document of the USDA's origins]
* {{Internet Archive author |search=( "United States Department of Agriculture" OR "Agriculture Department" OR USDA )}} (historic archives)
* Historic technical reports from USDA (and other federal agencies) are available in the [http://www.technicalreports.org/ Technical Report Archive and Image Library (TRAIL)]
* [http://bs-agro.com/index.php/news/other-countries/19463-usda-issues-grants-to-support-for-robotics-research USA: USDA Issues grants to support for robotics research]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071010111213/http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=49741 USDA Awards $97 M for Renewable Energy Projects]

{{scholia|organization}}

{{United States Department of Agriculture}}
{{United States government agencies involved in environmental science}}
{{United States federal executive departments}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Department Of Agriculture}}<!-- Please respect alphabetical order -->
[[Category:Agriculture ministries]]

{{Sourceattribution|United States Department of Agriculture|1}}