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Justice for Black Farmers Act: A Quantum Leap Forward or a Misguided Step Back?

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On Nov. 19, 2020, Senator Cory Booker, D-N.J., cosponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren, D-Md., and Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., introduced the Justice for Black Farmers Act. This ambituous legislation aims to “address the history of discrimination against Black farmers” and to “prevent future discrimination” within the United States Department of Agriculture, among other objectives. The act has since been endorsed by over 100 organizations, including the National Farmers Union, a century-old union of over 200,000 family farms, and Soul Fire Farm Inc., a New York farm at the focal point of the food sovereignty and justice movement. 

The legislation has five distinct titles, arguing for broad civil rights reform within the USDA, the establishment of a land grant program, increased funding for historically Black colleges and universities, sweeping credit assistance and land retention programs and systemic agricultural reforms that prioritize socially disadvantaged farmers. Title II, Section 203 of the Justice for Black Farmers Act has perhaps the most immediate implications for not just Black farmers, but any eligible Black individual across the country.

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Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy Receives $1.5 Million Grant from Koch Foundation

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The Cornell Program in Infrastructure Policy — a seven-year-old program that tackles the ins and outs of infrastructure — just got a big boost with a $1.5 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. This program focuses on “improving the delivery, maintenance, and operation of physical infrastructure,” according to its website. Based in the College of Human Ecology, the program funds research about infrastructure, hosts events to discuss important issues in the field and maintains an advisory board of experts in both public and private industries to help carry out the goals of the organization. According to Prof. Rick Geddes, policy analysis and management, the founding director of CPIP, these goals are to “further research, teaching, public engagement, and outreach in the area of infrastructure policy.”

One of the goals of the program will be “to research technology and infrastructure,” specifically the adoption and implementation of these programs in cities and counties, according to Geddes. Geddes pointed out the immense technological advancements that infrastructure is currently undergoing.