evidence: We rated as True Booker’s claim that "there is a direct connection between discriminatory policies within the" Agriculture Department "and the enormous land loss we have seen among Black farmers over the past century." In 1920, there were about 925,700 Black farmers. In 2017, that number was down to 45,500, a decline dramatically larger than that among white farmers. Bias in the implementation of New Deal policies and other farm assistance programs has been widely documented in Agriculture Department reports and legal settlements between the department and Black farmers. Discriminatory practices meant that Black farmers were continually denied opportunities to expand and modernize their farms, experts say. [...] PolitiFact, "Sen. Cory Booker is right about legacy of USDA bias against Black farmers," Feb. 22, 2021