Students for Fair Admissions and the Future of Affirmative Action for Women in American Agriculture

The federal government has a well-documented history of discrimination against women in American agriculture. And the government now has many compelling reasons—from remedying past discrimination to shoring up food security—to provide targeted support to women farmers. But the Biden Administration’s attempts to provide targeted financial support to Black farmers through the American Rescue Plan Act were halted by federal courts that view affirmative action with increasing suspicion, as evidenced by the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. President and Fellows of Harvard College (SFFA). Does the Supreme Court’s upending of decades of precedent governing race-based affirmative action in SFFA also spell the end for gender-based programs in agriculture?