Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack has appointed Dewayne Goldmon, the Executive Director of the National Black Growers Council as a USDA Senior Advisor on Racial Equity.  His primary function will be to ensure racial justice in USDA programs.  This will be achieved through an Equity Commission that will address the needs of currently under-served communities that face inherent barriers to participation in federal programs.

In commenting on the initiative, Vilsack stated, "we will have an Equity Commission that will begin the process of investigating all of the USDA programs to make sure we identify and root out any systemic racism that may exist".

In 1999 and again in 2010, the USDA implemented the Pigford Settlements, disbursing $2.2 billion to black farmers and their descendants who were victims of discrimination.

Vilsack is also evaluating disbursement of the $23 billion in pandemic aid to farmers during 2020.  According to Vilsack, the top ten percent of producers received 60 percent of benefits with the bottom ten percent receiving 0.3 percent, suggesting possible inequity in distribution of support payments.

The USDA has frozen $2.3 billion in payments under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program to allow for an evaluation of the selection criteria. Included in the $13 billion appropriation by Congress, $3 billion was to have been allocated to growers of hogs and broilers.

The stimulus program now before the Senate includes $3.6 billion for food donations and $3.5 billion for an extension of SNAP benefits, $1 billion for public nutrition in U.S. territories and $5 billion for socially disadvantaged farmers. Vilsack has pledged to distribute funds in a fair and equitable way.

Vilsack has expressed the need to "create a more level playing field for small and medium-scale producers and create a more balanced equitable economy for everyone working in food and agriculture including immigrants and seasonal farm workers".