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U.S. Indian farmers get $680 Million as settlement
By siliconindia
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Friday, 22 October 2010, 11:54 IST
Washington D.C: The Obama government approved to pay up $680 million to American Indian farmers to settle an 11-year-old class-action lawsuit alleging inequity by the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports Scott Kilman, WSJ.
Eligible farmers and ranchers will receive up to $250,000 each for showing that USDA discrimination caused them fiscal losses said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who took office promising to address longstanding complaints by minority farmers against the department. In the class-action suit, American Indian farmers assert that USDA bureaucrats shored them of the low-interest rate loans ascertained to white farmers between 1981 and 2007. However, most farmers will probably opt for a uniform $50,000 compensation, which involves less red tape.
The Obama administration reached a $1.25 billion settlement with black farmers in February who brought similar discrimination litigation overshadowing the American Indian class-action lawsuit. But Congress has yet to appropriate that money. Unlike the suit by black farmers, the money to settle the litigation by American Indian farmers is coming from an existing federal judgment fund - managed by the Justice Department and Treasury Department - which is used to pay for litigation involving the government.
The amount of money that the federal government will eventually pay to American Indian farmers is far from clear in large part Since according to the most recent USDA census of agriculture, which was conducted in 2007, nearly 35,000 American Indians made the day-to-day decisions for a farm or ranch and it is hard to estimate how many farmers will file claims. But before the 2007 census, the population of American Indian farmers is murkier since the government often counted an whole reservation as one farm operation.
The USDA would forgive up to $80 million in debts to American Indian farmers and beef up its programs with American Indian producers as part of the settlement, which is subject to formal approval by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.