The Agriculture Department’s new Equity Commission is seeking the public’s comments after its interim report called for more diversity on related county boards as part of “closing the racial wealth gap and addressing longstanding inequities in agriculture.”

The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, pushed by President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats, established the Equity Commission in the Agriculture Department. USDA officials also say that setting up the Equity Commission follows through on Biden’s executive order on “Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government,” which committed to creating the panel.

The commission’s Feb. 28 interim report includes 32 recommendations and a final report is due by winter 2024, according to the Federal Register. The USDA website says that the final report will come by the end of 2023. The commission’s recommendations include offering new sources of capital to owners of property; reducing barriers to USDA programs; making USDA’s county committees “more equitable, representative, accountable and transparent”; and “improving language access for linguistically and culturally diverse communities trying to access USDA programs.”

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