Senators Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Kay Hagan (D-NC), and Mary Landrieu (D-LA) will introduce a "bill to fund the $1.15 billion settlement that black farmers reached with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack in February" according to the news release.
The 1997 case, Pigford v. Glickman, was settled out of court 11 years ago, but due to the volume of claimants, tens of thousands of farmers missed the filing deadline. The case was reopened through a measure in the 2008 Farm Bill, known as Pigford II. In February, the Department of Justice and USDA announced a resolution to Pigford II, but Congress must appropriate the funds for the settlement for class members to pursue their claims through an arbitrator.
The Senate has failed several times to approve this funding. For background on the Pigford settlement, click here, here, and here for past US Ag&Food Law and Policy Blog posts on the subject.
Lincoln said, "The time is long overdue to fund the discrimination settlement for African American farmers who have experienced decades of injustice... All farmers should receive equal access and treatment in the delivery of USDA's programs and services and we must finally close this chapter of discrimination within USDA."
To read the News Release, click here.
Posted: 09/24/2010
