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Almost a year has passed since the government approved the aid as part of the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package President Biden signed in March, but the minority farmers the money was intended to help have been shut out from receiving the relief as it remains tied up in court battles, The Hill reported. John Boyd Jr., a civil rights advocate and fourth-generation farmer, has been applying pressure to lawmakers and the administration to get the $4 billion in stalled aid for socially disadvantaged farmers released. A Virginia-based farmer and president of the thousands-strong National Black Farmers Association, he told The Hill in a recent interview he’s been filing amicus briefs in different courts across the country. “It's a do-or-die for a guy who owes a couple hundred thousand dollars to the government,” said Boyd, who added he’s also been reaching out to members who helped draft the legislation for assistance in tackling the issue. The White House did not return a request for comment from The Hill, while a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said in a statement that it "continues to work closely with the Department of Justice to vigorously defend" the funding allocation.

The U.S. food system is under renewed strain as COVID-19’s Omicron variant stretches workforces from processing plants to grocery stores, leaving gaps on supermarket shelves, the Wall Street Journal reported. In Arizona, one in 10 processing plant and distribution workers at a major produce company were recently out sick. In Massachusetts, employee illnesses have slowed the flow of fish to supermarkets and restaurants. A grocery chain in the U.S. Southeast had to hire temporary workers after roughly one-third of employees at its distribution centers fell ill. Food-industry executives and analysts warn that the situation could persist for weeks or months, even as the current wave of COVID-19 infections eases. Recent virus-related absences among workers have added to continuing supply and transportation disruptions, keeping some foods scarce. Nearly two years ago, COVID-19 lockdowns drove a surge in grocery buying that cleared store shelves of products such as meat, baking ingredients and paper goods. Now some executives say supply challenges are worse than ever. The lack of workers leaves a broader range of products in short supply, food-industry executives said, with availability sometimes changing daily.

A supply chain crisis for imports has grabbed national headlines and attracted the attention of the Biden administration, as shoppers fret about securing gifts in time for the holidays and as strong consumer demand for couches, electronics, toys and clothing pushes inflation to its highest level in three decades. Yet another crisis is also unfolding for American farm exports, the New York Times reported. The same congestion at U.S. ports and shortage of truck drivers that have brought the flow of some goods to a halt have also left farmers struggling to get their cargo abroad and fulfill contracts before food supplies go bad. Ships now take weeks, rather than days, to unload at the ports, and backed-up shippers are so desperate to return to Asia to pick up more goods that they often leave the United States with empty containers rather than wait for American farmers to fill them up. The National Milk Producers Federation estimates that shipping disruptions have cost the U.S. dairy industry nearly $1 billion in the first half of the year in terms of higher shipping and inventory costs, lost export volume and price deterioration. Agriculture accounts for about one-tenth of America’s goods exports, and roughly 20 percent of what U.S. farmers and ranchers produce is sent abroad. The industry depends on an intricate choreography of refrigerated trucks, railcars, cargo ships and warehouses that move fresh products around the globe, often seamlessly and unnoticed. U.S. farm exports have risen strongly this year, as the industry bounces back from the pandemic and benefits from a trade deal with China that required purchases of American agricultural products. Strong global demand for food and soaring commodities prices have lifted the value of U.S. agricultural exports more than 20 percent over last year. Still, exporters say they are leaving significant amounts of money on the table as a result of supply chain problems. And many farmers are now struggling to keep up with soaring costs for materials like fertilizer, air filters, pallets and packaging, as well as find farmhands and drivers to move their goods. 

Although farm insolvencies have declined nationally, Kansas is third highest in the nation for these bankruptcies, The Hutchinson News reported. Beginning from June 2020 through June 2021, Kansas chapter 12 farm bankruptcies trailed only Wisconsin and Minnesota. According to the American Farm Bureau Federation, Wisconsin had 48 farms file chapter 12 bankruptcy, with Minnesota and Kansas falling behind the Badger State with 31 and 30 filings, respectively. Iowa and Nebraska had more than 20 filings, with all the other states in the teens or below. Although chapter 12 bankruptcies have fallen nationwide since 2012, when there were 582 filings, farmers continue to ride a tightrope. As of 2021, the number of bankruptcies is 438 nationwide. Kansas had two less filings than last year. According to the acting chief economist for the American Farm Bureau Federation, Veronica Nigh, the dairy sector was particularly hard hit over the last several years. But, she said, all portions of agriculture have seen chapter 12 filings.

Despite an incredibly challenging previous 18 months that included a global pandemic and tumultuous weather, higher commodity prices and well-timed government support have finally turned the tide on year-over-year increases in chapter 12 bankruptcy filings, the Wisconsin State Farmer reported. According to data from the U.S. Courts, from June 2020 through June 2021, there were a total of 438 chapter 12 bankruptcy filings, down 24%, or 142 bankruptcies. The number of chapter 12 filings over the previous 12 months is the lowest since 2015’s 357 filings. The decrease in bankruptcy filings is a noteworthy shift given the significant increases in the number of bankruptcies over the previous three years. The ongoing impact of the severe drought in the West and Upper Plains is evident in the number of chapter 12 bankruptcies filed in those regions. The region with the largest increase in the number of chapter 12 filings by both absolute number and by percentage increase was the Southwest, which had 13 more chapter 12 bankruptcies in the past year, an increase of 41% from the 12-month period ending June 2020. Total bankruptcies filed by state vary significantly, from no bankruptcies in some states to as many as 48 filings in others. Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nevada, Rhode Island, West Virginia and Wyoming had no chapter 12 bankruptcies filed in the past year. These states have consistently had low numbers of bankruptcies in the past decade. In contrast, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Kansas led the nation in chapter 12 filings; though there were fewer filings in each of these states than there were in the previous year.

The Biden administration plans to issue a new rule to protect the rights of farmers who raise cows, chickens and hogs against the country’s largest meat processors as part of a plan to encourage more competition in the agriculture sector, the Associated Press reported. The new rule that will make it easier for farmers to sue companies they contract with over unfair, discriminatory or deceptive practices is one of several steps that the White House plans to announce in the next few days. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is also expected to tighten the definition of what it means for meat to be labeled a “Product of USA” to exclude when animals are raised in other countries and simply processed in the United States. Farmer advocacy groups have pressed for change for years but Congress and the meat processing industry have resisted. A USDA official familiar with the White House’s plan said an executive order is expected to be announced this week that will clear the way for the new rules. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday that the rules are designed to “increase competition in agricultural industries to boost farmers’ and ranchers’ earnings, fight back against abuses of power by giant agribusiness corporations, and give farmers the right to repair their own equipment how they like.” The regulation will make it easier for farmers to bring complaints under the Packers and Stockyards Act and is similar to one the Trump administration killed four years ago. That rule was first proposed in 2010.

A federal judge in Florida blocked the Biden administration from distributing $4 billion in stimulus debt-relief aid to “socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers” over concerns that the plan discriminates against White people, Bloomberg News reported. U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard in Jacksonville on Wednesday issued an injunction against the plan, saying a White farmer who sued the Department of Agriculture alleging bias is likely to succeed if the case goes to trial. At issue is the definition of “socially disadvantaged” in the provision of farm loan-forgiveness aid included in the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill. The Agriculture Department has said the plan was designed to remedy past discrimination against Black and other minority farmers in the distribution of government assistance. But the judge said that the Biden administration had so far failed to justify using race as a factor in forgiving farm loans. “There is little evidence that the Government gave serious consideration to, or tried, race-neutral alternatives” to the provision, Judge Howard, a George W. Bush appointee, said in her ruling. Judge Howard is the second federal judge to block the plan in response to a lawsuit by a White farmer. U.S. District Judge William Griesbach in Milwaukee issued a restraining order against it earlier this month. A number of similar suits have been filed, including one in Texas by America First Legal, a conservative legal group launched in April by former top Trump aides Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows, among others. That suit alleges the Biden loan-forgiveness plan violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by discriminating against “Irish, Italians, Germans, Jews and eastern Europeans.”

A federal judge halted payments for a loan forgiveness program that provides relief to agricultural producers of color, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. A temporary restraining order was handed down Thursday afternoon by Judge William Griesbach of Wisconsin's Eastern District, in response to a lawsuit filed by the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty in April. The group alleged that the Biden administration used an unconstitutional program in an effort to end systemic racism and should make the relief available to white farmers, too. Since the filing of the lawsuit, the U.S. Department of Agriculture officials have continued to implement the program and is currently reviewing what the restraining order means for the program. "We respectfully disagree with this temporary order and USDA will continue to forcefully defend our ability to carry out this act of Congress and deliver debt relief to socially disadvantaged borrowers," said a USDA spokesperson. "When the temporary order is lifted, USDA will be prepared to provide the debt relief authorized by Congress.” The Biden administration created the loan forgiveness program for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers earlier this year under the American Rescue Plan Act. The program paid up to 120% of direct or guaranteed farm loan balances for producers who are Black, American Indian or Alaskan native, Hispanic or Latino, and Asian American or Pacific Islander.