more discrimination complaints and a surge in the number of backlogged complaints. The USDA's reports on minority participation were determined to be unreliable and of limited usefulness; strategic planning is limited and lacks needed components. Lessons learned could benefit USDA's civil rights performance: an oversight board could improve management, and an ombudsman could address concerns of USDA customers and employees. Since the USDA's civil rights program expanded, the face of agriculture has changed: The number of African-American farms increased 9%; African-American farm operators increased 7%; African-American women farmers increased 53% The number of Native American farm operators grew 88%; Native American women farmers grew 318% Hispanic farm operators grew 14%; Hispanic women farmers grew 20% Overall, the number of women farm operators increased 19%. Women farm operators were the most likely to own the land they farmed and were the most racially diverse. In March 2021 Congress passed a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill entitled the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, one of many pandemic-era economic stimulus measures enacted to directly support the American people. The bill carves out $5 billion for the Emergency Relief for Farmers of Color Act of 2021, intended to relieve farmers of financial burdens associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. The act provides $4 billion in direct debt forgiveness payments for socially disadvantaged farmers and $1 billion for increasing assistance to socially disadvantaged farmers, including the creation of a National Center for Minority Farmer Agricultural Law Research and Information and other pilot projects. Allegations of fraud On April 25, 2013, the New York Times reported that "the $50,000 payouts to black farmers had proved a magnet for fraud" and that "its very design encouraged people to lie". The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund responded with a press release entitled, "‘Sharon LaFraniere got it Wrong!’ Response to the coverage of the Pigford Settlement in the April 26, New York Times." Susan A. Schneider, a professor of agricultural law, also strongly criticized the New York Times and detailed errors in the faulty reporting in this article. She noted major points: the article "mischaracterized the 'Pigford' settlement, implying falsely that all claimants received payment" (nearly one-third were denied relief); it "fails to explain that in each of the discrimination cases referenced, claimants were required to submit evidence that shows that they experienced discrimination and that they complained about the discrimination." In some cases such evidence was not available,