Native American Farmers Awarded $760 Million in USDA Class Action Settlement

Native American farmers that alleged discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a class action lawsuit will receive close to a billion dollars from a settlement agreement announced yesterday by the agency. 

The lawsuit, Marilyn Keepseagle et al., v. Vilsack (Civil Action No. 99-3119 (D.D.C.)), was first filed on November 24th, 1999, but the discrimination complaints from thousands of Native American farmers span a decade (1981-1999). The complaints, in general, alleged that Native American farmers and ranchers did not have the same opportunity to obtain USDA farm loans as white farmers and ranchers.

Under the settlement agreement, known as the “Keepseagle Settlement,” $680 million will be made available to eligible class members to compensate them for their discrimination claims, according to a press release issued yesterday by the USDA.

In addition, the agreement provides up to $80 million in debt forgiveness to successful claimants with outstanding USDA Farm Loan program debt. Also, a moratorium on foreclosures of most claimants’ farms and a moratorium on accelerations and administrative offsets of class members’ farm loan accounts will be put into place until after claimants have gone through the claims process or the Secretary of Agriculture has been notified that a claim has been denied.

The settlement also provides a broad range of programmatic relief, including the creation of a new Federal Advisory Council for Native American farmers and ranchers and a new ombudsman position to address farm program issues related to Native American farmers and ranchers as well as all other socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. 

The settlement will not be final until it is formally approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in the release announcing the settlement, “Today’s settlement can never undo wrongs that Native Americans may have experienced in past decades, but combined with the actions we at USDA are taking to address such wrongs, the settlement will provide some measure of relief to those alleging discrimination.”

In a press release issued yesterday, the National Congress of American Indians praised the settlement.  

"This settlement provides long awaited justice for American Indian farmers and ranchers who have only sought an equal opportunity to work hard and succeed,” said Jefferson Keel, President of NCAI. “We are pleased that the court and the Obama Administration have taken tangible steps today to right a wrong  reinforce the trust relationship between the United States and American Indian tribal nations.”

Tribes Get $4.5 Million to Provide Food Assistance to Low-Income Families

Tribal organizations and states operating the USDA Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR) have received over $4.5 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding appropriated for the purchase of equipment and the improvement of facilities needed to provide food assistance to low-income families on and near Indian reservations, according to a press release issued by the USDA on April 8.

Through FDPIR, USDA purchases food that is provided to low-income households, including the elderly, living on Indian reservations and to Native American families residing in designated areas near reservations and in the State of Oklahoma, the release said.

About 271 tribes are receiving benefits under FDPIR through 98 tribal organizations and five state agencies. Nearly 90,000 low-income individuals receive a monthly FDPIR food package.

Funding amounts awarded range from $147,687, which the Navajo Nation received, to $2,250, the amount awarded to the Shoshone Paiute Tribe.

Bonus Awards Given to Tribes for Promoting Breastfeeding Among WIC Participants

The Navajo Nation received a $50,000 bonus award from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for doing an exceptional job in promoting and supporting breastfeeding among mothers participating in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), according to a press release issued last week by the USDA. The Navajo Nation was among the top five large state agencies with the highest breastfeeding rates.

The bonus was part of about $5 million awarded to state agencies for improving and achieving high breastfeeding rates. Authorized by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-80), this is the first time the USDA has given them out.

The Santo Domingo Tribe, the Pueblo of Zuni and the Five Sandoval Indian Pueblos, all in New Mexico, each received a $5,000 bonus for having the greatest breastfeeding rates among the smaller agencies.

Several tribes, including the Ute Mountain Tribe in Colorado, the Omaha Nation in Nebraska and the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, received bonus awards of approximately $5,000 each for making the greatest improvements in breastfeeding rates.

To read the full release, click here.

Tribal Colleges to Improve Campuses with USDA Grants

On Sept. 19, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced that 17 tribal colleges in eight states were awarded $4 million through its Rural Development Tribal College Grant program, created to help the colleges buy equipment, build or renovate classrooms, make repairs and finance infrastructure improvements.

Stone Child College in Box Elder, Mont., for example, received a $272,350 grant to repair infrastructure and build a greenhouse and mobile computer lab. Tohono O'odham Community College in Sells, Ariz., was awarded $272,350 to repair classrooms and other college buildings. The Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College in Michigan received $137,000 to pave parking lots, demolish and remove old dorms, do site preparation, install a new drain field at the main campus and buy two 16- passenger accessible buses and a new seven-passenger van. Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, S.D., received $272,350 to build a Head Start program building at Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge reservation.

"Education is one of the most effective economic development tools we can put into the hands of our tribal communities as they build their economic, business and social opportunities," Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said.