Eva M. Clayton: “known as the people's department, the USDA was established when President Lincoln signed the law on May 15, 1862. It is…”

“known as the people's department, the USDA was established when President Lincoln signed the law on May 15, 1862. It is ironic that the very department created by the President, who signed the Emancipation Proclamation, today faces widespread and documented charges of unfair and unequal treatment of socially disadvantaged and minority farmers. The farmers and ranchers of America, including minority and limited resource producers, through their labor, sustain each and every one of us and maintain a lifeblood of our Nation and the world. These people do not discriminate. Their products are for all of us. Therefore, it is important that we do all within our power to ensure that each and every producer is able to farm without the additional burden of institutional racism rearing its ugly head. Mr. Speaker, it greatly concerns me that in my home State of North Carolina, there has been a 64-percent decline in minority farmers just over the last 15 years from 6,996 farms in 1978 to 2,498 farms in 1992. There are several reasons why the number of minority and limited resource farmers are declining so rapidly, but the one that has been documented time and time again is the discriminatory environment present in the USDA, the very agency established to accommodate and to assist the special needs of all farmers and all ranchers.”