IRA Section 22007:

Financial Assistance for Farmers who have experienced discrimination in USDA Farm Loan Processes

The deadline to apply for IRA Section 22007 has passed.

Submitted applications are now being reviewed by the program administrator, and decision notices are expected to go out in late Spring 2024.

If you have any questions about your submitted application, please contact us!

If you are a farmer, rancher, or forest landowner who has experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending prior to January 1, 2021, you may have been eligible for financial assistance through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Section 22007.

Rural Coalition, our sub cooperators, and the seven other USDA cooperating organizations are here to help you develop the strongest possible claim, free of charge.

General Information:

On July 7th, The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) launched the claims process for Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Section 22007.

IRA Section 22007 is a program designed to offer financial assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forestlandowners who have experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending processes prior to January 1, 2021.
Claims for IRA 22007 must have been submitted by January 13th, 2024.

Rural Coalition was one of eight community-based cooperator organizations trained by USA to offer technical assistance to farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners in completing their claims. The full list of cooperators is:

Rural Coalition Sub-Cooperators

Rural Coalition worked with the following member organizations as trusted partners on this program:

Information Sessions for Farmers &

Trainings for Technical Assistance Providers

This was an updated calendar of upcoming Information Sessions on IRA Section 22007 from Rural Coalition and our other cooperators.

Some of these Information Sessions were geared toward farmers, while others are for Technical Assistance teams supporting farmers to complete their claims. Please take note of this when choosing which sessions to attend.

Additional Resources

& Quick Links:

  • For a broad overview of the program, please refer to our joint cooperator press release and USDA's press release.

  • Farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who have experienced discrimination in USDA farm lending: please complete this Technical Assistance Request Form to request technical assistance from Rural Coalition and the partner community-based organizations serving this process as trained USDA cooperators. We will refer farmers, ranchers, and forest landowners who complete this form to the technical assistance team best able to assist them.

  • For a brief but detailed overview of the application form, please see this Brief IRA 22007 Guide from Farmers Legal Action Group (FLAG). For an extensive guide, see FLAG’s full farmer guide here.

  • To see the application in full, please review this PDF Version of the IRA 22007 application

  • A Word document template of the narrative steps of the application, can be found here in English, and here in Spanish

  • A Word document template of the entire application can be found here in English and here in Spanish. (Please note: This template is not the official USDA IRA 22007 Application. Sending USDA this document is not a valid form of application. You must copy-and-paste your answers from this template onto the PDF or online version of the application. Please find the full PDF application here.)

  • For a list of "must" and "may" documents to gather for the application, please see this checklist compiled by USDA.

  • Frequently Asked Questions from USDA

  • Farmers and TA teams: Please review USDA's factsheet on avoiding scams and fraud in the 22007 claims process.

Frequently

Asked

Questions

  • To be eligible to receive financial assistance under IRA Section 22007, all applicants must submit claims by January 13th, 2024.

    If you require documents from USDA or Farm Service Agency (FSA) in order to complete your application, you must request those documents by November 3rd, 2023.

    The application is long, and much documentation is required, so we recommend starting your application as soon as possible if you feel you may be eligible for financial assistance through IRA 220017.

  • If you attempted to get a loan from USDA/FSA before January 1, 2021, and experienced any kind of discrimination in that attempt, you are eligible for financial assistance through IRA Section 22007.

    Whether you secured the loan or not, discrimination may have taken place at any step of the process.

    The discrimination could have occurred at any time prior to January 1, 2021. There is no starting date.

  • No. This is not a lawsuit against USDA.

    This is a federally-funded program with a maximum budget of $2.2 billion.

  • No. It is completely free to submit a claim.

    Many entities who are not authorized to provide assistance for IRA Section 22007 are charging farmers to make an application for a program that has no cost to apply.  Many attorneys and other entities are sending notices to farmers and ranchers asking them to sign retainers that require the producers to share a percentage of any assistance awarded.

    Farmers and ranchers may opt to engage and pay an attorney but this is not required. USDA has engaged eight organizations with the training and experience to provide you with the highest level of technical assistance at no cost to you.

Avoid Fraud & Scams:

Many entities who are not authorized to provide assistance for IRA Section 22007 are charging farmers to make an application for a program that has no cost to apply.  Many attorneys and other entities are sending notices to farmers and ranchers asking them to sign retainers that require the producers to share a percentage of any assistance awarded.

Farmers and ranchers may opt to engage and pay an attorney but this is not required. USDA has engaged eight organizations with the training and experience to provide you with the highest level of technical assistance at no cost to you.

See more information on 22007 Discrimination Financial Assistance and on avoiding scams in this program.

If you see or receive notices from attorneys or entities offering to help you apply for either of these programs please take photos & send them to us at farmers@ruralco.org