Black Farm Groups and Advocates Seek Congressional Funding for Black Farmers
Justice for Black Farmers has been denied for too long
By Ralph Paige
President Abraham Lincoln created the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
in 1862. He referred to it as the People’s Department. The problem is that its services
have never been available to all the people. Although more recently with the Clinton and
Obama administrations efforts have been made to correct many of these discriminatory
problems at USDA, it is an unfortunate fact that USDA’s history has been one marked by
instances of rampant discrimination. This is why Black farmers filed suit against the
USDA in 1997 focusing on discrimination in the administration of its farm programs in
the 1980s and into the 1990s.
The litigation - referred to as Pigford v Glickman (now Pigford v. Vilsack) named after
Tim Pigford a black farmer in North Carolina and Secretary of Agriculture Dan
Glickman—was settled in 1999, and over 15,000 Black farmers obtained relief for
discrimination at the hands of USDA. But, as explained below, the settlement itself
triggered such an outpouring of pent-up frustration and demands for justice that, more
than 12 years later, the case is still on-going.
Originally, in the Pigford lawsuit Black farmers needed to file their claims by October 12,
1999. While thousands of farmers filed by the deadline, many across the country were not
aware of the lawsuit. As a result, the judge let people, who missed the deadline, petition
to get into the settlement, if they did so prior to September 15, 2000. Again, thousands of
farmers filed petitions and are now referred to as “late filers”.
Of these late filers only 3% (2,700) were found eligible to file a claim in Pigford. This
left a staggering 97% of late claimants (around 58,000 and over 75% of all claimants)
who were denied the opportunity to file a claim in the Pigford lawsuit.
All over the country Black farm groups and their advocates expressed concern that these
tens of thousands of the Black farmer petitioners had not been able to file a claim in the
Pigford lawsuit. Many petitioned Congress and its leadership to address this issue. As a
result, the U.S. Congress included in the 2008 Farm Bill a provision to allow the “late
filers” to file claims and included a budget of $100 million, which, unfortunately, was not
nearly enough to serve the farmers.
Since the passage of the 2008 Farm Bill, President Obama proposed adding considerably
more monies – $1.15 billion - for the Pigford lawsuit in his budget, an amount much
closer to what likely will be needed to cover all proven claims. Based on that proposal,
attorneys for the Black farmers and the government have negotiated and finalized a class
settlement of all late filer claims. At the same time, the Obama administration has
submitted legislative language to Congress on the added $1.15 billion in funding for the
Pigford case that awaits critical legislative target action by March 31. The President could also
designate the funding as an emergency declaration. Congress can also and should act on this
immediately after the recess.
All well and good, but the job is not finished. The settlement cannot go forward until
Congress timely appropriates the funds requested by President Obama. That has not yet
been done, and the whole effort is teetering on the edge of failure until this last link in the
chain is forged.
We at the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund recognize that
work with farmers requires far more than a lawsuit can provide. This is why for 43 years
we have offered outreach and technical assistance to Black farmers across the South with
assistance on debt restructuring, marketing, production issues, farm management, loan
packaging and basically a whole host of services to assist farmers and help them maintain
their land and importantly stay on the land.
Black farmers with late filer claims, however, have waited for decades for relief from the
lack of services and credit opportunities that were denied them by USDA agencies. Many
of them have now died, lost their farms or have left farming altogether in the ten years
since the original claim period closed. It is a tragic injustice that these thousands of Black
farmers are still being denied relief for this discriminatory behavior from their own
government. The Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund, the
Network of Black Farm Groups and Advocates and the scores of organizations from
around the country supporting the Network's efforts urge Congress to act expeditiously
on providing the necessary funding for the Black farmer late filer settlement.
Ralph Paige is the Executive Director of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land
Assistance Fund. Now in its 43rd year, the Federation assists Black family farmers
across the South with cooperative development, farm management, debt restructuring,
alternative crop suggestions, marketing expertise and a whole range of services to ensure
family farm survivability. He can be reached at ralphpaige@federation.coop
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