Ag Policy Blog

Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, former President Trump's running mate, said Sunday on the CBS "Face the Nation" program that "the Harris administration" had "handed out farm benefits to people based on skin color."

Vance, following a question about attacks on his wife's ethnicity, said, "I do think that there's been this thing in America where we've said that we should judge people based on their skin color, based on their immutable characteristics, based on things that they can't control. I frankly think that unfortunately, a lot of people on the left have leaned into this by trying to categorize people by skin color and then give special benefits or special amounts of discrimination."

Vance then pointed out, "The Harris Administration, for example, handed out farm benefits to people based on skin color. I think that's disgraceful. I don't- I don't think we should say, you get farm benefits if you're a Black farmer, you don't get farm benefits if you're a white farmer. All farmers, we want to thrive, and that's certainly the President Trump and JD Vance view of the situation. But I do think unfortunately, when our leaders divide us by race, you're going to have hate on the left side of the political spectrum."

Vance did not specify a specific USDA program. Chuck Abbott of the Food & Environment Reporting Network pointed out that "The USDA recently sent $2 billion in payments to 43,000 farmers who suffered discrimination when they applied for USDA farm loans."

"Congress created the Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) in 2022 after lawsuits stymied a $4 billion debt-relief plan aimed at farmers of color and criticized by Republican lawmakers as reverse discrimination," Abbott reported.

"More than 58,000 people filed applications covering every category in DFAP -- race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and retaliation for civil rights activity, said the USDA."

Abbott added, "The DFAP website does not provide a demographic breakdown of recipients. Payments went to every state, the District of Columbia, and three territories."

"More than half of recipients were producers in Mississippi and Alabama, who received a combined $905.5 million. The other states with more than $100 million in payments were Georgia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. Black farmers are most numerous in the South but they make up just 1.2% of the 3.4 million products in the country, according the USDA's 2022 Census of Agriculture."

Also see, "USDA Details Discrimination Payments," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

In the CBS interview, Vance also defended his previous comments praising Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, who is often criticized by business leaders and Republican officials.

Asked about his views on Khan, Vance said, "Well, look, I don't agree with Lina Khan on every issue, to be clear, but I think that she's been very smart about trying to go after some of these big tech companies that monopolize what we're allowed to say in our own country."

"I don't want Google or a billionaire that controls Google that's in bed with China to be able to censor American information, and that's exactly what they've done."

Khan has also showed an interest in whether farmers have the "right to repair" their equipment on their own and whether grocery stores are engaged in price gouging.

CBS News - Transcript: Sen. JD Vance on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Aug. 11, 2024 https://www.cbsnews.com/…

DTN Ag Policy Editor Chris Clayton contributed to this report.

Jerry Hagstrom can be reached at jhagstrom@nationaljournal.com

Follow him on social platform X @hagstromreport

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