Sec. 5. Additional assistance for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers and socially disadvantaged groups

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The Secretary shall establish an equity commission composed of— officers of the Department of Agriculture; individuals with an interest in the activities of the Department of Agriculture; socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers with not less than 10 years of experience in farming or ranching; individuals with expertise in civil rights; and employees or board members of qualified nonprofit organizations. The equity commission established under paragraph

(1)shall— examine past discrimination by the Department of Agriculture; examine and evaluate discrimination occurring in programs administered by the Department of Agriculture; and provide recommendations to the Secretary to address and mitigate future discrimination by the Department of Agriculture, including— budgetary recommendations; and recommendations for improving the structure of Farm Service Agency county committees to better serve socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The Secretary shall make a competitive grant to a school of law, or a legal research entity, in the United States to establish the National Center for Minority Farmer Agricultural Law Research and Information (referred to in this subsection as the Center ). The Center shall— conduct international, Federal, State, and local legal research on the legal issues of minority farmers and farmworkers relating to farmland, credit, land ownership, and related food and agricultural issues; provide information, community legal education, policy research, and guidance on legal issues relating to minority farmers and farmworkers to— practicing attorneys, including attorneys providing pro bono assistance, representing minority farmers and farmworkers, including advice and brief services; minority farmers and individuals assisting minority farmers on legal issues; food, agriculture, farmworker, and farm organizations; local, State, and Federal agencies; members of Congress; and other persons who are assisting minority farmers and farmworkers in addressing the legal issues described in subparagraph (A); and coordinate a national network of attorneys— providing legal assistance to minority farmers and farmworkers; or working on issues relevant to minority farmers and farmworkers. The Center shall make available to the National Agricultural Library the research, community legal education, policy research, guidance, advice, and information of the Center. The National Agricultural Library shall make available to the public the research, community legal education, policy research, guidance, advice, and information provided by the Center under subparagraph (A). The Center shall collaborate with— the National Agricultural Library; and the National Center for Agricultural Law Research and Information. The Secretary shall make— grants to resolve property issues relating to ownership and succession on farmland; and loans under section 310I of the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act ( 7 U.S.C. 1936c ). The Secretary shall provide financial assistance to cooperative development centers, individual cooperatives, or groups of cooperatives— that serve socially disadvantaged groups; and a majority of the boards of directors or other governing boards of which are composed of individuals who are members of socially disadvantaged groups. The Secretary may establish pilot projects to provide technical and financial assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, including projects that focus on land acquisition, financial planning, technical assistance, and credit. The Secretary may provide financial assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers or ranchers that— are former farm loan borrowers of the Department of Agriculture; and have suffered adverse actions or past discrimination or bias relating to the farm loan, as determined by the Secretary. The Secretary may support the development of agricultural credit financial institutions that are designed to serve and finance socially disadvantaged groups, including Farm Credit System institutions chartered under the Farm Credit Act of 1971 ( 12 U.S.C. 2001 et seq.). The Secretary shall provide financial assistance, outreach, mediation, financial training, capacity building training, cooperative development training and support, and other technical assistance to qualified nonprofit organizations that provide services to socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. The Secretary shall support and supplement research, education, and extension activities at— colleges or universities eligible to receive funds under the Act of August 30, 1890 (commonly known as the Second Morrill Act ) (26 Stat. 417, chapter 841; 7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), including Tuskegee University; 1994 Institutions (as defined in section 532 of the Equity in Education Land-Grant Status Act of 1994 ( 7 U.S.C. 301 note; Public Law 103–382 )); Alaska Native serving institutions and Native Hawaiian serving institutions eligible to receive grants under subsections

(a)and (b), respectively, of section 1419B of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 ( 7 U.S.C. 3156 ); Hispanic-serving institutions eligible to receive grants under section 1455 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 ( 7 U.S.C. 3241 ); and eligible institutions (as defined in section 1489 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 ( 7 U.S.C. 3361 )). The Secretary shall provide grants to— colleges or universities eligible to receive funds under the Act of August 30, 1890 (commonly known as the Second Morrill Act ) (26 Stat. 417, chapter 841; 7 U.S.C. 321 et seq.), including Tuskegee University, for student scholarships; and land-grant colleges and universities (as defined in section 1404 of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1977 ( 7 U.S.C. 3103 )) for scholarships for students or prospective students who are— members of Indian Tribes; and pursuing an agricultural field of study. There is appropriated to the Secretary, out of amounts in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, to carry out this section $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2021, to remain available until expended.

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