Free money alert: next Monday, the federal agriculture department will begin accepting applications for cash handouts that fund garden boxes, refrigeration units, greenhouses, ATVs, snowmobiles, tractors, hydroponic systems and more. But there’s a catch — anyone who receives these funds must use them to directly support “food production for equity-deserving groups.”

The program, called the Local Food Infrastructure Fund, expressly refuses to fund projects that “are not addressing food security for equity-deserving groups.” On the other hand, “Priority will be given to projects that predominantly serve equity-deserving groups, particularly those that are led by or focus on Indigenous and Black communities.”

Quite clearly, this is a discriminatory program — one of many that continue to exi

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