Hispanic
Farmers Seek Amends From USDA
Created: Nov 2, 2011 Last
Updated: Nov 2, 2011
Juan Rico culls cotton plants
growing between rows in an irrigated cotton field July 27, near
It only takes one bad crop to destroy a farm, and decades of discrimination in
the USDA’s loan process has
sunk many a farm.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will be the first to admit this dark part of
its history and is trying to end the cycle by rooting out discrimination among
its own staff and by making amends with farmers in cases that have lasted since
the Civil Rights movement.
But for many Hispanic farmers, and many female farmers, the process of amends
has just been another insult in a long history of discrimination.
“I’m just one of thousands,” said David Cantu, a Hispanic farmer and rancher in
Cantu’s story rings along a similar line to what other farmers have faced. He
and his father applied for a loan ahead of the planting season. They were
approved, but the money was delayed.
They prepared the land in the meantime, but when the money, which they needed
to pay for irrigation, finally came, it was too late.
“By that time the damage had been done—we lost the crop,” Cantu said.
They had planted corn, and in the south, if corn crops don’t get enough water,
they can develop a chemical that gradually lowers its market value.
“We lost probably $300,000 to $400,000,” Cantu said.
A lost crop has a ripple effect. Farmers rely on profits to repay their loans,
but if the loans come late—as in the case of Cantu and many other Hispanic
farmers—they not only take a massive loss, but also go into debt from being
unable to repay the money they now owe.
Once they’re in debt, when the next planting season comes along, they can be
denied the loans needed to keep the farm going, and a farm that has been passed
down through generations is then lost.
“That’s the legacy that Hispanic farmers leave to their children—their land and
whatever they put together in their lifetime. The USDA has taken that from
them,” Cantu said.
Making Amends
On May
4, the USDA took one of the first steps in addressing a long history of
discrimination. Representatives met with farmers and ranchers in
Every Hispanic and female farmer or rancher who was denied a USDA loan due to
discrimination between 1981 and 2000 is being offered up to $50,000.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the settlements
were part of his “commitment to mend USDA’s troubled civil rights record,” and
the USDA is “correcting our past errors, learning from our mistakes, and
outlining definitive action to ensure there will be no missteps in the future,”
according to the USDA official blog.
Many farmers and ranchers, however, see the settlement
in a different light, and a group of Hispanic farmers and ranchers filed a suit
against the USDA, regarding its settlements.
“It is, in our view, a very cynical attempt by USDA and the Department of
Justice to pretend they are turning the page or closing a chapter on
discrimination,” said Stephen Hill, attorney
for the Hispanic farmers who filed the suit against the USDA, in a phone
interview.
The main point of contention is that Hispanics and women are being offered
significantly less individually than what was offered to either
African-American or Native American farmers and ranchers.
In the 1999 Pigford I case, with African-Americans farmers and ranchers, each
person was offered two tracks. Track A gave a $50,000 settlement. Track B gave
them as much in damages as they could prove they lost. The highest amount paid was
$13 million. A second round of
settlements was then made for anyone who missed the first one, dubbed Pigford
II. This offered up to $50,000 in Track A, and up to $250,000 in Track B.
Native American farmers and ranchers were given similar settlements in the
Keepseagle case, which offers up to $50,000 in Track A, and up to $250,000 in
Track B.
“In the case of Hispanic farmers, they rather acutely do not refer to it as
Track A or Track B,” Hill said. “They refer to it as Tier I and Tier II.”
For Hispanic and female farmers and ranchers, they can recover up to $50,000 in
Tier I, and a flat $50,000 under Tier II.
Yet the case is complicated. They are being offered less money individually,
but more money overall.
“We believe the processes for Hispanic and women farmers are quite similar to
those used for black and Native American farmers,” said a USDA spokesperson in
an e-mail interview.
A total of $1.33 billion was made available for Hispanic and female farmers and
ranchers—more than twice the funds made available to Native American
farmers—and $80 million more than what was made available for African-Americans
in the Pigford II settlement.
“Additionally, the amount of debt relief
for Hispanic and women farmers is fair and reasonable,”
stated the USDA spokesperson, noting that claimants are being offered up to
$180 million in debt relief, twice that of the Keepseagle settlement.
For many Hispanic farmers, however, the $50,000 being offered is far from
compensating what they lost.
Noe Obregon from
The $50,000 being offered “wouldn’t get us nowhere,” Obregon said in a phone
interview. “Compared to the losses we have had in so many years, how does
$50,000 justify a million-dollar farm?”
“We’re just being given the short end of the stick,” Obregon said. “I would
just like to see justice served, and to be treated like Americans. We’re