DeLauro, Eshoo Call on USDA to Explain Claims Denied to Women, Hispanic Farmers
WASHINGTON, DC—Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Anna Eshoo (D-CA) today called on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to explain why they denied 85 percent of claims filed by women and Hispanic farmers who were discriminated against by USDA’s farm loan program between 1981 and 2000. Their letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack can be viewed here.
“The treatment that women farmers have received under the claims process is deeply troubling,” they wrote to Secretary Vilsack. “Three years ago we wrote to you and the U.S. Attorney General requesting improvements to the Claim Program. Unfortunately, as demonstrated by the low success rate for claims and unconscionably low total claims paid – it seems that any improvements made did not lead to just results.
“For decades, women farmers have suffered from gender discrimination at the hands of USDA in the denial of farm loans and loan servicing…The extent of the gender discrimination is staggering,” they wrote later. “We request that USDA provide us additional information regarding the standards applied in the evaluation of the claims submitted and the standards used to determine fraud in the claims submitted…We look forward to working with you to ensure a just and transparent administrative claims process has been conducted.”
According to USDA’s June 8, 2015 Status Report, over 53,000 claims were submitted by women and Hispanic farmers. Nearly 60 percent were deemed untimely or incomplete. Nearly half of the claims that were considered timely and complete were denied due to unexplained “fraud concerns.” Women and Hispanic farmers had to give up their rights to pursue claims in court in order to participate in the program.
The 15 percent success rate for women and Hispanic farmers compares to 80 percent for Native Americans, and 56 and 69 percent for African Americans in previous programs.
The most recent Census of Agriculture identified more than a million female farm operators, approximately 300,000 of whom are principal farm operators. That amounts to 14 percent of the 2.2 million farms in our country.
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