*Josie Shaffer
I. Introduction
Amid partisan turmoil on Capitol Hill, Congress failed to pass the Farm Bill before its September 30th, 2023, deadline.[1] As a result, certain programs will lose their funding and their ability to run their programs, and many farm commodity programs will now rely on outdated laws once the Bill is exhausted.[2] The 118th Congress need not sound any alarms yet, since previous omnibus Farm Bills like this one have taken years past their first deadlines to get a final vote.[3] However, the delay leaves many institutions’ hope for increased federal funding in limbo.[4] Congress missed an opportunity to address the inequalities from earlier Farm Bill-funded research programs between predominantly white land-grant institutions and their historically Black land-grant university counterparts.[5] Organizations push for solutions to these disparities, but it may not be remedied legislatively as the status of the 2023 Farm Bill remains unknown.
II. History
The Farm Bill is an omnibus law that Congress passes about every five years to fund various agriculture programs.[6] Enacted in the 1930s, the original Farm Bills kept food prices fair for farmers and consumers and ensured an adequate food supply as part of the New Deal.[7] Over time, Congress has expanded that original idea through increased funding to various sectors of the agricultural industry, from the farm to the table and all the research in between.[8] Since 1977, the Farm Bill has included a research title that reauthorizes funding for existing programs such as land-grant universities.[9]
Congress established land-grant universities (LGUs) through the Morrill Act of 1862 to expand agriculture research through higher education institutions.[10] However, Black Americans did not get to experience this increase access until an 1890 amendment to the Morrill Act—almost 30 years later.[11] This second Morrill Act prohibited the distribution of federal funds to states that made distinctions of race in admissions “unless at least one land-grant college for African Americans was established.”[12] Many of these universities mandated by the Morrill Act of 1890 (1890 institutions) persist today as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).[13]
Originally colleges focusing on solely agriculture, many LGUs designated in the first Morrill Act (1862 institutions) are now their state’s flagship universities such as the University of Maryland and the University of Wisconsin.[14] Federal legislation provides capacity grants— recurring federal appropriations—and federal appropriations to LGUs for research, education, and extension, or practical experience in the field.[15] When the Hatch Act passed in 1887, authorized funding for the creation of centers for agricultural research in connection with a state’s LGU.[16] Federal funds provided to state institutions under the Hatch Act, must be matched by the state per dollar with nonfederal funding.[17]
However, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack recently highlighted unequal appropriated funding for different LGUs, with distributions ranging from $172 million for 1890 institutions to $2.1 billion for 1862 institutions.[18] Disproportionate state funding can also be seen in states hosting both 1862 and 1890 institutions. For example, Florida did not meet the 1-to-1 Hatch Act-required state funding needed Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), an 1890 institution.[19] Two and a half hours away at the University of Florida, an 1862 institution, however, Florida matched funds with a state-to-federal funding ratio of at least 14-to-1.[20]
The 2018 Farm Bill removed the restriction that capped 1890 institutions’ appropriations from one fiscal year into the next.[21] Section 7213 of the 2018 Farm Bill called for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to name at least three Centers of Excellenceat 1890 institutions and authorized annual appropriations of $10 million to fund such centers.[22] While removing this limitation allows 1890 institutions greater flexibility in long-term projects with additional funding, 1890 institutions still do not receive equitable state funding compared to 1862 institutions that could help with these projects.[23]
III. 1890 Land-Grant Institutions Remain Underfunded as No Resolution to the 2023 Farm Bill is Clear
To fix disparities between LGUs, congressman David Scott introduced a bill in 2021 to provide $100 million in funding for student scholarships at 1890 institutions by permanently reauthorizing the 1890 Scholarship program without Farm Bill reauthorization.[24] This initiative and other hopes of combatting the deeply rooted inequities between the LGUs stall as the 2023 Farm Bill makes a slow crawl to a final vote. Without legislative action to increase funding to 1890 institutions, supporters may try other legal endeavors to decrease the funding gap between LGUs.
However, a recent suit in Maryland demonstrates the legislative action like the Farm Bill is not the only vehicle for fixing disparate funding at LGUs. In 2021, Maryland settled a lawsuit accusing the state of undermining HBCUs across Maryland’s ability to attract students for $577 million.[25] Along with allegations of underfunding, the lawsuit alleged Maryland allowed traditionally white institutions to duplicate programs offered at HBCUs, making it more difficult for HBCUs to attract students.[26] The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals found that the program duplication perpetuated segregation and directed the settlement funds to the expansion of academic programs at Maryland’s four HBCUs, including 1890 institution University of Maryland Eastern Shore.[27] This settlement could inspire supporters of 1890 institutions in the other seventeen states where both 1862 and 1890 institutions are located to sue their state governments for allowing traditionally white institutions to duplicate programs offered at 1890 institutions.[28] As mentioned, the University of Florida and FAMU both maintain agriculture programs, but the 1862 program has the benefit of more state-to-federal matching funds. Accordingly, FAMU could look to Maryland HBCU’s settlement with the state as means to challenge their disparities through the courts.
IV. Conclusion
Several provisions in the 2018 Farm Bill addressed discrepancies in how 1862 and 1890 institutions receive and manage federal funds.[29] Supporters of 1890 institutions hoped that, with the reauthorization of the Farm Bill, lawmakers would add additional education and research opportunities to combat unequal funding between LGUs. Congress granted an extension of the 2018 Farm Bill until September 2024[30], but if LGUs want additional funding for their programs, they may need to consider legal actions, like those seen in Maryland, to secure research, education, and extension activities in the near future.
Photo Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture
*Josie Shaffer is a second-year day student at the University of Baltimore School of Law, where she is a Staff Editor for Law Review and a member of the Royal Graham Shannonhouse III Honor Society. Additionally, Josie serves as the UB LEADS Coordinator for the Student Bar Association. She is currently a senior law clerk at the Maryland Office of the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Unit.
[1] See Allison Winter, The Farm Bill Has Expired. Congress Is Months Away from a New Version, Md. Matters (Oct. 2, 2023), https://www.marylandmatters.org/2023/10/02/the-farm-bill-has-expired-congress-is-months-away-from-a-new-version/.
[2] See Cong. Rsch. Serv., R47659, Expiration of the Farm Bill 2–3 (2023).
[3] See id. at 2.
[4] See Katherine Knott, How the Farm Bill Could Affect Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed. (Jul. 25, 2023), https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2023/07/25/whats-stake-institutions-students-farm-bill-talks.
[5] See generally 2023 Farm Bill Title VII Policy Recommendations, Association of Public & Land-Grant Universities, https://www.aplu.org/wp-content/uploads/APLU-Farm-Bill.pdf (last visited Oct. 22, 2023) (suggesting policy recommendations for amending Title VII of the upcoming farm bill).
[6] Cong. Rsch. Serv., IF12047, Farm Bill Primer: What is the Farm Bill? 1 (2023).
[7] What Is the Farm Bill?, Nat’l Sustainable Agric. Coal., https://sustainableagriculture.net/our-work/campaigns/fbcampaign/what-is-the-farm-bill/ (last visited Oct. 19, 2023).
[8] Id.
[9] Genevieve K. Croft, Cong. Rsch. Serv., R47057, Preparing for the Next Farm Bill 43 (2022).
[10] Genevieve K. Croft, Cong. Rsch. Serv., R45897, The U.S. Land-Grant University System: Overview and Role in Agricultural Research 1 (2022).
[11] Id. at 3.
[12] Id.
[13] See id.
[14] Sara Partridge, The 2023 Farm Bill Must Address Inequalities in the Land-Grant University System, Ctr. for Am.Progress (July 26, 2023), https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-2023-farm-bill-must-address-inequities-in-the-land-grant-university-system/. Benson, supra note 9, at 26.
[15] Croft, supra note 9, at 12. Extension, Nat’l Inst. Food & Agric., https://www.nifa.usda.gov/about-nifa/how-we-work/extension (last visited Feb. 5, 2024).
[16] 7 U.S.C. § 361(a).
[17] Id.
[18] Id.
[19] Partridge, supra note 13.
[20] Id.
[21] Croft, supra note 9, at 16.
[22] Cong. Rsch. Serv., IF11319, 2018 Farm Bill Primer: Agricultural Research and Extension 1 (2018).
[23] Press Release, U.S. Dep’t Educ., Secretaries of Education, Agriculture Call on Governors to Equitably Fund Land-Grant HBCUs (Sept. 18, 2023), https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/secretaries-education-agriculture-call-governors-equitably-fund-land-grant-hbcus#:~:text=U.S.%20Secretary%20of%20Education%20Miguel,grant%20peers%20in%20their%20states.
[24] Press Release, Congressman David Scott, Ranking Member David Scott Introduces Legislation to Support 1890 Scholarships (Mar. 8, 2023), https://democrats-agriculture.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2750.
[25] Elizabeth Shwe, Maryland Settles HBCU Federal Lawsuit for $577 Million, Md. Matters (Apr. 28, 2021), https://www.marylandmatters.org/maryland-settles-hbcu-federal-lawsuit-for-577-million/.
[26] Id.
[27] Id.
[28] Land-Grant Colleges and Universities, Nat’l Inst. Food & Agric., https://www.nifa.usda.gov/land-grant-colleges-universities (last visited Oct. 22, 2023).
[29] See Cong. Rsch. Serv., supra note 17, at 1.
[30] Further Continuing Appropriations and Other Extensions Act, Pub. L. No. 118-22 (2023).
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