Copyright 2004 Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.  All Rights Reserved.

The Monitor (Rio Grande Valley, TX)

 

July 12, 2004

 

Hispanic farmers suing USDA for discrimination wait to be joined together

 

Ryan Gabrielson

 

SAN JUAN – It was never too difficult for Albert Ortega and his family to get approved for federal loans to keep their farms operating. But that did not mean they would be getting a check, at least not when they needed it, he says.

 

"Those funds would never appear. They would say, ‘Another 30 days.’ Until it’s already planting time," Albert Ortega said.

 

While Albert Ortega is still struggling to keep his Mercedes farm, his brother and father gave up in 1996 after what they allege were decades of problems applying for and receiving federal loans. Problems, they say, their Anglo colleagues do not face.

 

The Ortegas are now among about 40 Hispanic farmers in the Rio Grande Valley who have joined hundreds of others throughout the southern United States claiming they were forced from the industry by a system heavily tainted by discriminatory practices.

 

More than 300 farmers have signed on as plaintiffs in the federal class-action lawsuit Garcia v. Veneman, alleging the U.S. Department of Agriculture loan program, the Farm Service Agency, places roadblocks in front of Hispanic farmers.

 

Guadalupe Garcia is a New Mexico farmer who lost his whole farm when the federal government foreclosed on his property. Ann Veneman is U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

 

That group is waiting to find out from a U.S. District Court judge in Washington, D.C., if it will be certified as a "class" that would allow them to sue the agency all together, said Stephen Hill, an attorney for the plaintiffs.

 

The Hispanic farmers’ lawsuit is nearly identical to two others filed by black and Native American farmers. The black farmers’ suit, Pigford v. Veneman, was settled in 2003 for what has amounted to more than $1 billion.

 

While the USDA settled, that lawsuit did not require the agency to alter the way it awards farm loans.

 

"No one has come close to bringing USDA into the 20th century, let alone the 21st century," Hill said. "Nothing in the way of how they did business was changed. They (minority farmers) are being denied applications in the first instance."  Hill and his co-counsel, Ken   Anderson, visited to [sic] Valley last week to meet with some of the plaintiffs and other Hispanic farmers that could benefit from the lawsuit.

 

Though declining comment on the lawsuit, USDA spokesman Ed Loyd said: "FSA’s mission is to serve all farmers regardless of race."  Loyd also noted that from 1997 to 2002 there was a 51 percent increase in Hispanic farm ownership, which the FSA has helped fund through loans.

 

A farmer’s life is one of debt, borrowing thousands of dollars with the hope that what grows will be worth enough to start borrowing all over again the next year.

 

The Ortegas relied on FSA loans, intended to serve as a financial lifeline to debt-ridden farmers, those who’s fields were ruined by disasters as well as to those new to the industry who cannot get credit elsewhere.

 

After four years farming, Albert Ortega said his family turned to FSA in 1978 to keep them afloat. They would apply for farm operating loans, which would be approved, but the funds would never come until after the planting season.

 

Oftentimes, the money would come too late for them to use it, Ofelia Ortega, Albert’s sister, said. Because of the erratic funding, it was difficult for them to compete with other farms.

 

And when Albert Ortega needed an emergency loan in 1998, he went to the FSA office in Edinburg. He said the staff would not help him fill out an application, instead pointing to a tall stack of existing applications from other farmers.

 

"We don’t know when we’ll take care of you, but the funds are not here," Albert Ortega said he was told.

 

FSA loan managers are supposed to provide any farmer interested in a federal loan an application, and also assistance in filling it out, said Beth Vocal, a Texas farm loan specials with FSA. Those managers are required to put together a complete application package with the farmer and in some cases can award a loan right away.

 

"Let’s say the person only needed $175,000, he or she (the FSA loan manager) could make that credit decision right in that office," Vocal said. "Above that (amount) it would have to be bumped up to the state level."  Hill points to the FSA commissioners who at least used to be charged with recommending to the state whether a applicant should receive a loan. These commissioners are competing farmers and often are Anglos.

 

While the commissioners are still in place, Vocal said they no longer play any role in determining which applicants get loans.

 

"In the past they had a recommendation role. This is in the past," Vocal said.

 

If the Hispanic farmers are certified as a class, then the lawsuit is expected to go to trial later this year. Though monetary damages are being sought, the focus is on forcing change at FSA.

 

"It’s not going to be a straight money thing for us," Hill said.

 

 

Ryan Gabrielson covers Pharr, San Juan, Alamo and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4462