Leaders of historically Black land-grant universities are celebrating—and breathing a sigh of relief—after they signed an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier this month to reaffirm and deepen their collaboration with the federal agency.
The USDA has signed such agreements with these institutions since Ronald Reagan—often at the start of a new administration—but the new memorandum of understanding reassures the universities’ leaders that the Trump administration will continue to support and work with their institutions, said Harry Williams, CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents public HBCUs.
Felecia M. Nave, president and CEO of the 1890 Universities Foundation, which advocates for historically Black land-grant institutions, said the MOU “builds on prior efforts while placing a stronger emphasis on ensuring that our work is not just symbolic, but truly actionable.”
The agreement reaffirms the “critical role we play in advancing this administration’s America First agenda, particularly through its recognition of the importance of agriculture to our nation’s economic strength, food security, and long-term sustainability,” she wrote to Inside Higher Ed. “Our work is not on the margins; it is at the core of the issues that shape our country’s future.”
In the agreement, the USDA committed to exploring opportunities for historically Black land-grant faculty and administrators to work within and contribute their expertise to the department. The department will also continue its network of USDA liaisons on campuses with the goal of “providing regional support” to the universities and “increasing the number of students in the areas of food, agricultural science, natural resources, environmental sciences, and other agriculture-related fields.”
Notably, the agreement re-establishes a task force of department officials and historically Black land-grant university presidents who meet at least twice a year to discuss ways to strengthen the institutions and their historic missions. These 19 universities gained land-grant status under the Second Morrill Act of 1890 to ensure Black Americans had access to agricultural and technical sciences education.
“This MOU serves as a vehicle to actualize and strengthen the work and partnerships between our institutions and the initiatives supported by USDA,” Nave said. “It ensures that collaboration is not only sustained, but also more intentional, coordinated and results-driven.”
Ericke S. Cage, president of West Virginia State University and chair of the Council of 1890 University Presidents, said the agreement came through after months of advocacy. The main advantage of having it in place is it provides a “formalized platform” to “engage directly with the USDA.”
“This will provide a forum for us to raise up issues that are of significance, of importance, to our 1890 institutions and to find alignment and opportunities within the priorities and funding resources that USDA currently has available,” Cage said. “So, I think that’s the big win.”
Hopes for the Future
Historically Black land-grant university leaders hope that the refreshed line of communication will help them to secure more funding and opportunities for their students.
Cage said institutions like his need more funds to devote to campus infrastructure at a time when they struggle with deferred maintenance backlogs but want to invest in new technology and research to support American agriculture. For example, West Virginia State University is interested in research on how AI and cybersecurity measures could protect farmers’ online operations.
More infrastructure funding would help “ensure that our researchers and our students are able to certainly work in best-in-class facilities, which will help us to drive innovations that we can deploy out in the field and help our farmers and our ranchers do the important work that they do,” Cage said. “We believe that our institutions are well positioned to help tackle the problem of global food insecurity.”
Williams, of TMCF, hopes the task force can help advocate for the IGNITE HBCU Excellence Act, legislation lawmakers plan to revive after it didn’t pass in 2022, though language from it made it into former president Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 omnibus bill. IGNITE would create a competitive grant process to fund upgrades to HBCU campus facilities and equipment.
Infrastructure money is particularly important to historically Black land-grant institutions after decades of chronic underfunding, Williams said. States are supposed to match federal grants for food and agriculture research to land-grant universities dollar for dollar but historically often neglected to do so for 1890s institutions.
The secretaries of education and agriculture under President Biden concluded that 16 historically Black land-grant institutions were underfunded by their states a total of $13 billion over three decades and called on governors to pay up. Trump’s executive order in support of HBCUs, signed last spring, also committed to “encouraging states to provide the required state matching funds for 1890 Land-Grant Institutions.”
Some states have since partially or fully made up for the missing dollars, but closing the remaining funding gaps will be a “top” priority, Williams said.
An Improving Relationship
Historically Black land-grant universities and the Trump administration arguably got off to a rocky start last year when the USDA temporarily suspended the 1890 Scholars Program, which provides federal scholarships to agriculture students at their institutions. But within days, after fierce backlash from lawmakers and higher ed leaders, the federal agency reinstated the program and reopened applications.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke L. Rollins praised the program in a January call for applications.
“Now more than ever we need to encourage our young people to join the noble and fulfilling profession of farming and feeding our fellow citizens,” Rollins said in a statement. “President Trump has made it a priority to promote excellence at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and USDA is proud to further these efforts through this important program.”
Cage hopes, through the task force, university leaders can secure more opportunities for their students, whether that’s an expansion of the 1890 Scholars Program or new internships at the USDA. He acknowledged “some initial challenges” under the Trump administration—including some temporary disruptions to his institution’s federal funds for purported ties to DEI—but said the USDA has since proved a “supportive partner.”
“What I can say is that the department and the administration have been responsive to our concerns,” he said, noting that new federal money flowed to HBCUs in the fall and his previously suspended funds were restored after conversations with department officials and lawmakers. “Are there areas where we want to see some more support? Sure. But I think, in general, it’s been a pretty positive relationship.”
