USDA's minority efforts paying dividends

10/25/2011

The United States' Department of Agriculture's civil rights efforts look to be paying off, according to the Western Farm Press.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has put forth a variety of legislation over the past two years in an effort to address complaints from minorities and women that "go back decades," the news source reports.

For example, the Keepseagle settlement in October 2010 - a lawsuit against the USDA alleging that its farm loan program discriminated against Native American farmers - provided relief for all qualified claimants.

The Pigford II settlement addressed claims of the USDA's discrimination of black farmers in the 1980s and 1990s.

A claimant process was also opened for Love vs. Vilsack, which stated that women had unnecessary difficulty obtaining USDA loans.

On top of those moves, the USDA recently sent a "help-wanted alert" to its seven agricultural trade advisory committees for people employed in the industry to represent minorities, women and people with disabilities.

All of these recent changes have proven to be beneficial for the USDA's reputation and minority workers. According to recent census data, 30 percent more women are principal farm operators, while Hispanic operators have grown by 10 percent.

The USDA stated this move to attract more diversity is directly related to the changing demographics of farmers. The recent census reported 30 percent more women are principal farm operators and the number of Hispanic operators grew 10 percent since the changes.

"We believe that people with different backgrounds and views will make the work of these committees, and those of USDA, more effective," USDA reported, as quoted by Farm Industry News.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2010, the Farm Service Administration reduced its number of civil rights complaints to the lowest levels in the agency's history. Specifically, out of the nearly 2 million producers served by the agency during the last fiscal year, a mere 37 gripes were received.

"The loan numbers reflect the significant progress we have made in the effort to equally serve all eligible applicants for FSA program support," said FSA administrator Bruce Nelson, as quoted by the Western Farm Press.

The FSA also handed out nearly 6,000 loans accounting for more than $500 million to minority and women farmers during that same time period. Funding for this demographic increased by 9 percent in 2011 year-over-year - the largest of which were guaranteed farm ownership loans which helped producers obtain commercial credit to maintain their farm or ranch.

"Under the leadership of President Obama and Secretary Vilsack, the FSA is committed to diversity, inclusion and performance like never before, for the benefit of our customers and our employees," Nelson added.

The increased recognition and attention given to minorities and women has also had a positive effect on the FSA's loan portfolio. Direct loan delinquencies are at 5.9 percent - "historic lows" that haven't been seen since the 1980s. Direct loan losses sit at just 1.2 percent, its second lowest level since 1986.

What's more, there were just 64 foreclosures during fiscal year 2010 - less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the FSA's direct loan caseload.

Most, if not all of this success can be attributed to Vilsack's "new era of civil rights," which, in a memo sent to all employees in 2009, claimed to enforce zero tolerance for any form of discrimination. Since he began his tenure as Secretary, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights has closed 46 of 47 management challenges that were recommended by the USDA's Office of the Inspector General.