Farm Bill and Justice for Black Farmers

The Pigford v. Glickman case has been a topic of much debate for some time. Some have hailed it as the greatest effort in the Civil Rights Movement, period. Others have railed on it as one more gross miscarriage of justice.

More on this later on these pages, but in short, if a Black farmer farmed and was discriminated against between the years 1981 to 1996, there was a virtual lock on receiving some measure of justice via Track A and its $50,000 remuneration plus debt and tax relief, or Track B and its $75,000 remuneration plus debt and tax relief. Track A was supposed to be relatively simple, but track B demanded more information. See this link for the latest figures and here for an ongoing evaluation of the effort.

Numerous problems have evolved including some receiving payments when they had not farmed during that window of time, and I've even heard stories of white farmers receiving payments. What is that about?

One of the most serious problems amidst the large number of problems with the class action effort was that of informing, or rather failing to inform, Black farmers of their right to enter the case. Many farmers did not receive word of it. In fact, one day soon, I'll write a piece about an entire county in Alabama in which Black farmers were not informed and about the woman who is devoting her life to righting these wrongs. Hard to believe? I have copies of various documents supporting that fact. So, in short, there were close to 74,000 who were not admitted to the class because of late claimant status.

So, in the Senate version of the 2007 Farm Bill which is apparently now in committee to resolve differences, the case will apparently be reopened.

Here are some links that provide more information on this crucial topic. John Boyd's comment is especially interesting: ''We're looking at far more than $100 million, absolutely,'' he said. ''But half a loaf is better than none," as quoted in the New York Times. Check out another piece in
the Ag Observatory.

Social Justice Team III will be meeting here on campus this morning. This will likely take up some of our time. We all need to be informed about these matters.