Ongoing Efforts to Enhance Minority Farmers’ Participation in Farm Programs

FSA’s efforts to achieve equitable treatment for minority farmers are overseen by the agency’s Civil Rights and Small Business Development Staff through three separate activities. During fiscal years 1995 and 1996, the Staff closed 28 cases in which discrimination was alleged on the basis of race or national origin. In 26 of these cases, the Staff found no discrimination. At the time of review, USDA had not resolved how it would deal with the employees and compensate the affected farmers. Second, the Staff conducts management evaluations of FSA’s field offices to ensure that procedures designed to protect civil rights are being followed. About half of the FSA employees have been trained, according to the Staff, and all are scheduled to complete this training by the end of 1997. Employment of Minority Staff in County Offices and Representation of Minority Farmers on County Committees

In the 101 counties with the highest numbers of minority farmers, representing 34 percent of all minority farmers in the nation, FSA employees and county committee members were often members of a minority group. Minority Employment in County Offices

As of October 1996, 32 percent of FSA’s employees serving the 101 counties were members of a minority group. Moreover, 89 percent of these minority employees were either county executive directors or program assistants. Minority farmers make up about 17 percent of the farmer population in these 101 counties. Minority Representation on County Committees

We found that for the 101 counties with the highest numbers of minority farmers, 36 had at least one minority farmer on the county committee. Reasons Provided for Disapprovals of ACP and Direct Loan Applications

According to FSA’s data, applications for the ACP for fiscal year 1995 and for the direct loan program from October 1994 through March 1996 were disapproved at higher rates nationwide for minority farmers than for nonminority farmers. To assess the differences in disapproval rates, we examined the direct loan applications for fiscal years 1995 and 1996 at five district loan offices. Our review of the direct loan program files in these locations showed that FSA’s decisions to approve and disapprove applications appeared to follow USDA’s established criteria. These criteria were applied to the applications of minority and nonminority farmers in a similar fashion and were supported by materials in the files. In the five district loan offices we visited, 22 of the 115 applications from minority farmers were disapproved. Finally, the amount of time FSA takes to process applications from minority and nonminority farmers is about the same.
Why GAO Did This Study

GAO discussed its work on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) efforts to achieve equitable treatment of minority farmers, focusing on the: (1) Farm Service Agency's (FSA) efforts to treat minority farmers in the same way as nonminority farmers in delivering program services; (2) representation of minorities in county office staffing and on county committees in the counties with the highest number of minority farmers; and (3) disposition of minority and nonminority farmers' applications for participation in the Agricultural Conservation Program (ACP) and the direct loan program at the national level and in five county and five district loan offices for fiscal years 1995 and 1996.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) FSA's Civil Rights and Small Business Development Staff oversees the agency's efforts to achieve fair treatment for minority farmers; (2) in fiscal years 1995 and 1996, the Staff closed 28 complaints of discrimination against farmers on the basis of race or national origin and found discriminatory practices in 2 of the 28 cases; (3) the Staff also conducted 13 management reviews of field offices and found no evidence of unfair treatment; (4) finally, according to the Staff, they are in the midst of training all FSA personnel on civil rights matters and the Staff projects that this training will be completed by the end of 1997; (5) GAO did not evaluate the quality and thoroughness of the Staff's activities; (6) with respect to the representation of minority employees in FSA's field offices, USDA's database showed that, as of October 1996, 32 percent of the employees serving the 101 counties with the highest number of minority farmers are members of a minority group; (7) moreover, for the same period, 89 percent of these minority employees were either county executive directors or program assistants; (8) minority farmers makeup about 17 percent of the farmer population in these counties; (9) furthermore, in 36 of the 101 counties, at least one minority farmer is a member of the county committee; (10) the applications of minority farmers for ACP for fiscal year 1995 and for the direct loan program from October 1994 through March 1996 were disapproved at a higher rate nationwide than for nonminority farmers; (11) GAO found that disapproval rates for minority farmers were also higher at three of the five county offices and three of the five district loan offices it visited; and (12) however, GAO's review of the information in the application files at these offices showed that decisions to approve or disapprove applications were supported by information in the files and that decisionmaking criteria appeared to be applied to minority and nonminority applicants in a similar fashion.