Farming is a difficult livelihood. One of the biggest hurdles that farmers face is unpredictable weather conditions that are out of their control. That is why Congress has allocated over $25 billion in emergency disaster and pandemic relief funds since 2020 to help farmers affected by natural disasters and COVID-19.
But rather than help farmers like Alan and Amy West, Bryan Baker, and Rusty Strickland—who have owned their family farms for decades, and have suffered from the effects of droughts and the COVID-19 pandemic—the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is discriminating against them by allocating those congressional funds to them differently than to other farmers based on their race and sex.
Case Background
On the day President Biden took office, he declared that his administration would adopt an aggressive “whole-of-government equity agenda.” That word, “Equity,” focuses on creating equal outcomes, and is starkly different from equality, which demands equal treatment and opportunity under the law. In response to President Biden’s Executive Order, over 90 executive agencies created Equity Action Plans, including USDA.
As part of its misguided effort to create “equity,” USDA recognizes a category of farmers that it refers to as “underserved farmers,” which includes new farmers, and farmers in poverty, and another category of “socially disadvantaged farmers,” which includes women, American Indians or Alaskan Natives, Asians or Asian-Americans, blacks or African-Americans, Hispanics or Hispanic-Americans, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders.
Congress specifically set aside funding to aid farmers affected by natural disasters and the COVID-19 pandemic. But unilaterally and without congressional authorization, the Biden Administration implemented a catch: farmers would receive more of those relief funds if they were “underserved” or of a “socially disadvantaged” race or sex.
As a result, farmers like Rusty Strickland, Alan West, and Bryan Baker—all white men who were not “socially disadvantaged” or “underserved” as USDA defined those terms—received less money in disaster relief funds than if they had been of a different race or sex.
A Twisted Déjà Vu
Southeastern Legal Foundation (SLF) and Mountain States represent Rusty, Alan, and Bryan as they sue the Biden Administration’s USDA.
SLF and MSLF filed a lawsuit on behalf of these Texas farmers challenging USDA’s actions as both unlawful and unconstitutional. Not only is USDA discriminating against these hardworking Americans based on race and sex, but it is also doing so without any congressional authorization in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act—a law that strictly lays out how executive agencies must implement programs and regulations.
This isn’t the first time that USDA has ignored the Constitution. SLF and MSLF won an injunction against USDA in 2021 when it attempted to operate a race-based loan forgiveness program that automatically forgave the debts of “socially disadvantaged,” farmers while excluding white farmers. Following the victory, Congress repealed the program altogether. Yet USDA has found a new way to discriminate based on race, now even expanding its programs to discriminate based on sex.
SLF and MSLF filed the lawsuit in the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, on behalf of Rusty Strickland, Alan and Amy West and their farm (Alan and Amy West Farms), and Bryan Baker and his farm (Double B Farms, LLC).
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What’s at Stake
Natural disasters don’t discriminate. Neither should USDA. The Constitution promises equal treatment to all Americans, regardless of their race or sex. It also promises the separation of powers. USDA broke both promises through its disaster and pandemic relief programs when it unilaterally decided to give more money to farmers of certain backgrounds based on factors like race and sex.
Agriculture is a tough enough business without the added hurdle of discrimination. Bryan Baker began running his farm alongside his dad and grandad in 1996. In his decades of farming, nothing has been more challenging than the facing unpredictable weather conditions. Alan West, together with his wife Amy, have been farming since 1991, and face similar weather-based challenges. And Rusty Strickland and his wife are also suffering from the droughts and excessive heat that have plagued northwest Texas over the years. The federal government should be supporting these farmers affected by natural disasters, not hurting them with unequal treatment.
As SLF Vice President of Litigation Braden Boucek stated, “Secretary Vilsack of USDA has tried this before with USDA’s disastrous loan forgiveness program. We took him to court and won. Yet rather than working to restore confidence in the farmers who he led astray with that program, USDA is just spreading the same racially discriminatory classifications throughout its other programs. We won’t stop fighting for the constitutional rights of American farmers until USDA earns their trust through fair and equal treatment.”
Will Trachman, General Counsel of MSLF, noted, “President Biden can’t help but think about your race and sex. Since the day he took office, his executive 0ranch agencies have been obsessed with identity politics, and dividing Americans up by meaningless characteristics. It’s time to make agencies like USDA pay the price for their unconstitutional misconduct, and to make sure that no agency has the discretion to adopt a policy of discrimination.”
Case Timeline
- September 2021: Congress passed Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act (Public Law 117–43)
- May 2022: USDA adopted unconstitutional and unlawful relief program
- October 2023: Rusty, Alan, Amy, and Bryan began to receive significantly less funds than “socially disadvantaged” farmers
- April 2024: SLF and MSLF filed a lawsuit, seeking a court order declaring USDA’s race and sex preferences in the disaster relief programs unconstitutional and illegal.
- June 2024: Texas federal court issued a preliminary nationwide injunction halting the Biden Administration from awarding disaster relief based on race and sex.
