Black Farmers Document Systematic USDA Loan Discrimination

USDA internal data showed Black farm loan applicants waited 3-5 times longer for decisions than white applicants and were denied at higher rates from 1981-1996. The number of Black-operated farms collapsed from 925,000 in 1920 to under 18,000 by 1997. Discrimination by federal lenders was a documented contributing cause of Black farmland loss.