New Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP)

The Discrimination Financial Assistance Program (DFAP) is a new program from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) that will provide financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination by the USDA in USDA’s farm lending prior to 2021. Section 22007 of the Inflation Reduction Act provides $2.2 billion in assistance for this program.

According to the USDA, “Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who experienced discrimination by USDA in its farm loan programs prior to January 1, 2021 and/or are currently debtors with assigned or assumed USDA farm loan debt that were the subject of USDA discrimination that occurred prior to January 1, 2021, are eligible for this program.”

DFAP is administered through nongovernmental contractors. Analytic Acquisitions administers the program in Minnesota, and The Midtown Group does so nationally.

Additionally, eight trusted community-based organizations are serving as cooperators with USDA and third party administrators to implement DFAP and assist farmers and ranchers in applying. Those cooperators are:

• The Federation of Southern Cooperatives Land Assistance Fund (FSC/LAF)
• Rural Coalition (RC)
• Intertribal Agriculture Council (IAC)
• North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers Land Loss Prevention Project (LLPP)
• Farmers Legal Action Group (FLAG)
• National Young Farmers Coalition (Young Farmers)
• Farmer Veteran Coalition (FVC)
• National AgrAbility Project (NAP)

“If you feel you have been discriminated against while seeking a USDA farm loan, or that you were not treated well in the servicing of your loan, you may be eligible,” said John Zippert, retired Director of Programs at FSC and current Rural Coalition Board Chair.

The application period is open now. Applications are due October 31, 2023. Applications for this program are free and do not require a lawyer. Applications may be submitted online, at a designated office, or through the mail.

Free technical assistance on how to complete the application is available from the eight cooperators and from Analytic Acquisitions. Please contact 1-800-721-0970 or info@22007apply.gov for assistance.

Learn more about DFAP, eligibility, technical assistance, and the application process at https://22007apply.gov.