Can $3 billion persuade Black farmers to trust the Department of Agriculture?

Sharifa Tomlinson runs Arrowrock Farm in Riverside, Ohio, where she sells her chickens to a U.S. Agriculture Department-funded program that processes them for food banks. She wants to help other Black farmers tap into the department's programs. (Amy Mayer)

The Biden administration is spending $3.1 billion to convince farmers and ranchers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sequester carbon in the ground. It also hopes that the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities grants will help make amends for a century of systemic discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) against Black, Native and other "historically underserved" farmers.

The program already faces obstacles, though, amid criticism that many projects receiving the most money are run by giant for-profit companies and major agricultural lobbying groups that don't appear to have a clear plan for how they will serve disadvantaged farmers, though every funded project includes an equity goal. Much smaller grants have gone to projects led by historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and other minority-serving organizations.