Open Letter to Sec. of Agriculture Tom Vilsack: A Chance for an Equitable USDA

By Brianna Bradley

The Department of Agriculture Building

When I first heard the news that Tom Vilsack was chosen as Biden’s Secretary of Agriculture, I had just finished discussing with my classmates how we were rooting for the appointment of Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio). I was disappointed to hear the USDA would be headed by yet another old, white man. The United States Department of Agriculture has been criticized, rightly so, for perpetuating racism in agriculture for dozens of years. Tom Vilsack spent eight years as the Secretary of Agriculture under the Obama administration, and the USDA continued business as usual towards marginalized farmers. 

Around the same time as Vilsack’s re-appointment, I coincidentally watched the 2018 Climate Change and the Agriculture Sector Senate Hearing with Vilsack’s testimony for net zero agriculture emissions on behalf of the Dairy Export Council, where he became President and CEO in 2016. What I see in Vilsack is a politician with the power, experience, connections, and know-how to make a difference in the agricultural sector. However, his accomplishments in advocating for climate conscious-agriculture and expansion of food assistance programs do not overshadow his lack of stride toward dismantling institutional racism in agriculture. This open letter draws specifically from Vilsack’s past public actions to outline what responsibilities he should prioritize during this rare second chance he has been given. 

Farm worker

Dear Secretary Vilsack: 

If you thought there were few impactful agricultural issues crossing your desk in 2015 [1], I promise you that will not be the case in the next four years. 

America needs you to step up to the plate in 2021for a massive undoing. The economic turmoil experienced by farmers, leading to subsidy dependence, needs undoing. The endangerment of food system workers needs undoing. Decades of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) disenfranchising Black farmers and limited-resource food producers[2] needs undoing. 

The Rural America that the Biden-Harris administration vowed to support needs your focused efforts to send ripples of equity throughout our country’s food supply. 

Under Sec. Sonny Perdue, the USDA’s agricultural subsidization is out of control and racist patterns linger. Farm subsidies have drastically increased under the Trump administration since 2016, but 99 percent of the subsidies have gone to white farmers [2]. The payments are projected to reach $51 billion for 2020 – the highest it has been in two decades [3]. Even worse, half of the subsidies are sent to the largest 9 percent of farms [4]. It is no wonder that Black-owned farms have declined from nearly 1 million in 1920 to fewer than 50,000 in 2017 [2]. 

It is not enough to clean up the mess of the current administration – you must begin the process of remediation. The loss of 800,000 acres of black-owned land in Mississippi alone throughout the 1950s and 60s equates to $6.6 billion of property value and income in today’s dollars [5]. 

Addressing inequity in agriculture will be no small task. Progressive institutions, civil rights advocacy groups, Black farmers, small-holder farmers, and low-income rural Americans already have reason to question whether you are the right person for the job. After all, the USDA falsely reported that Black farmers had greater gains in credit and land distribution during the Obama administration than was actually true [6]. Without the expected progress during the Obama administration, your re-appointment reminds these groups of a time they were forgotten. 

Rural America includes Black farmers and minority communities. As pointed out by the Biden-Harris platform, small towns have become places with few opportunities. For disadvantaged groups, the opportunities are even fewer. Consequently, rural areas account for 85 of the 100 counties with the highest percentage of the population reliant on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) [7]. While you have been applauded for your support of SNAP and Women, Infant, and Children program (WIC)[8], I urge you to begin empowering and supporting the people who should not be reliant upon on these programs in the first place.  

Reduce the barriers for marginalized and small farmers to receive loans. Better yet, make grants available and accessible to increase the land and capital of marginalized farmers [2]. An essential step in this process is to build, or rebuild, your relationship with Black community leaders in each state. Listen and understand their needs after a troubling 4 years, particularly 2020.  

One question we should be asking is this: what did Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) take up as work once they lost their land and income? In the case of the 84,000 Black Americans who lost their farms in Mississippi sixty years ago, they moved into industrial labor [5]. Many of them ended up in factory meatpacking and processing industry, whose employees are composed of 66% People of Color [9]. 

Your relationship with the agriculture industry is no secret[10], but neither is your firm footing in science [8]. The science tells us industrial agriculture is the silent devastator of Rural America. Environmental degradation of our land. Chemical pollution and runoff into drinking water. Agricultural waste accumulation in our countryside. Property devaluation of communities. Nutrient depletion of fertile soils. Exploitation of small farmers. And now more than ever before – high risk labor for contracting corona virus [11]. 

Secretary Vilsack, I struggle to see how you can help Rural Americans, BIPOC, and hungry communities without first unraveling yourself from Big Ag and the industrial farming complex. I understand that the industry employs many people, but minorities need protections. The USDA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) should not continue to work in silos. 

Your extensive knowledge of the USDA processes and responsibilities allow you to substantially “build back better in rural America” – as outlined in the Biden-Harris plan[12] – so that food producers can again feed themselves while continuing to feed the country. Your return is one of “steadiness, sobriety, and sound science” compared to the previous leadership [8]. Experience and steadiness is enough to restore the state of 2015 USDA, but the challenge lies in making the positive, overdue changes this pandemic has forced us to realize. The year 2020 has astutely reminded us that agriculture is our economy, it is our most vast social structure, and it is public health. 

Secretary Vilsack, this time we need you to be up to the task.

References

[1] G. Jaffe and J. Eilperin, “Tom Vilsack’s lonely fight for a ‘forgotten’ rural America,” Washington Post, Sep. 26, 2016.

[2] P. Gaines, “USDA issued billions in subsidies this year. Black farmers are still waiting for their share.,” NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/usda-issued-billions-subsidies-year-black-farmers-are-still-waiting-n1245090 (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[3] “USDA – Farm Subsidies at Highest Level in 20 Years,” Taxpayers for Common Sense, Sep. 03, 2020. https://www.taxpayer.net/agriculture/usda-farm-subsidies-at-highest-level-in-20-years/ (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[4] N. Rosenberg and B. Wilson Stucki, “How USDA distorted data to conceal decades of discrimination against black farmers | New Food Economy,” The Counter, Jun. 26, 2019. https://thecounter.org/usda-black-farmers-discrimination-tom-vilsack-reparations-civil-rights/ (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[5] V. R. Newkirk II, “The Great Land Robbery,” The Atlantic, Sep. 2019.

[6] H. Bottemiller, X. Bustillo, and L. Crampton, “Black farmers, civil rights advocates seething over Vilsack pick,” POLITICO. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/09/black-farmers-tom-vilsack-agriculture-usda-biden-cabinet-444077 (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[7] T. Marema, “Top 100 Counties, SNAP Participants as Percent of Population,” Daily Yonder, May 07, 2018. https://dailyyonder.com/top-100-counties-snap-participants-percent-population/2018/05/07/ (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[8] “CSPI Welcomes Vilsack Return to USDA,” Center for Science in the Public Interest, Dec. 11, 2020. https://www.cspinet.org/news/cspi-welcomes-vilsack-return-usda-20201211 (accessed Dec. 21, 2020).

[9] N. Dollar, “Who are America’s meat and poultry workers?,” Economic Policy Institute. https://www.epi.org/blog/meat-and-poultry-worker-demographics/ (accessed Dec. 21, 2020).

[10] Kasserman K. and Starbuck A. C., “Tom Vilsack’s Cozy Relationship With Big Ag Makes Him A Non-Starter at USDA,” Food & Water Watch, Dec. 16, 2020. https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/tom-vilsacks-cozy-relationship-big-ag-makes-him-non-starter-usda (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).

[11] K. Kindy, “More than 200 meat plant workers in the U.S. have died of covid-19. Federal regulators just issued two modest fines.,” Washington Post.

[12] “Joe Biden’s Plan for Rural America | Joe Biden for President,” Joe Biden for President: Official Campaign Website. https://joebiden.com/rural-plan/ (accessed Dec. 20, 2020).