September 25, 2002

Re:  Garcia v. Veneman, C.A. No. 1:00CV2445

Lupe Garcia, a third generation farmer, president of the Hispanic Farmers and Ranchers Association, Inc., and the lead plaintiff in the class action suit of Garcia v. Veneman, brought against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), testified today before the House Subcommittee on Departmental Operations of the House Agriculture Committee.

A total of eighteen Hispanic farmers from California, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado participated in the hearing at the Capitol. They allege discrimination in their attempts to participate in USDA farm credit and non-credit benefit programs, in violation of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA). Their class action resolves to settle years of admitted discrimination against minority farmers who sought inclusion in USDA loan programs.

Garcia noted that while USDA officials have suggested that a lack of farming education plays a significant role in the denial of help to minority farmers, he holds dual degrees - a Bachelors and a Masters in Agronomy, specializing in biochemistry and physiology of pesticides. He had owned two farms totaling 626 acres of land in a family partnership, but, after seeking help from the USDA and being denied several times, the land was foreclosed upon and sold in 1999 for less than half of its appraised value.

"How is such discrimination possible in a taxpayer-funded federal department?" Garcia asked the Committee. "Such conduct seems to be not only sanctioned, but encouraged," he said.

The USDA secretly dismantled the enforcement system of its USDA’s Office of Civil Rights in the early 1980s, thereby removing one of the primary recourses for farmers like Garcia. When Congress learned of this dismantling, it "tolled" (extended) the two-year statute of limitations applicable to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act allowing farmers to seek damages for injuries arising from discrimination that occurred from January 1, 1981 through December 31,1996.

The Garcia case, as it is called, was filed in October 2000. "Our case is brought as a class action to remedy years of massive and admitted discrimination against minority farmers of Hispanic origin who sought access to USDA loan programs and were denied such access in violation of ECOA.

The plaintiffs are being represented by Stephen Hill and Kenneth Anderson, partners at the law firm of Howrey Simon Arnold & White.