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Women, Hispanics can file claims for USDA discrimination

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
USDA
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is currently accepting claims from female and Hispanic farmers who believe the agency discriminated against them in farm loan or loan servicing programs. The claims process is complex—but the payouts could be large.

After the courts rejected a class action lawsuit from the farmers, USDA agreed to a voluntary settlement process with women and Latinos.

Claimants must submit a 16-page claims package plus additional evidence, and then a third-party will review and determine eligibility.

Lynn Hayes of the Farmers Legal Action Group says eligible cases must fall between 1981 and 2000.

“You may have a discrimination claim even if you actually got the loan that you applied for but then had problems later on when you needed servicing for the loan,” she says.

But coming up with the required documentation could be a challenge—Hayes says in mid-December, about 85 percent of packets received had been returned as incomplete. But successful claimants could receive $50,000 or, in some cases, as much as $250,000.

This story originally aired as part of Business Beat, a weekly program about business and economics in mid-Missouri.

Amy Mayer is a reporter based in Ames. She covers agriculture and is part of the Harvest Public Media collaboration. Amy worked as an independent producer for many years and also previously had stints as weekend news host and reporter at WFCR in Amherst, Massachusetts and as a reporter and host/producer of a weekly call-in health show at KUAC in Fairbanks, Alaska. Amy’s work has earned awards from SPJ, the Alaska Press Club and the Massachusetts/Rhode Island AP. Her stories have aired on NPR news programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition and on Only A Game, Marketplace and Living on Earth. She produced the 2011 documentary Peace Corps Voices, which aired in over 160 communities across the country and has written for The New York Times, Boston Globe, Real Simple and other print outlets. Amy served on the board of directors of the Association of Independents in Radio from 2008-2015.