President Barack Obama is requesting $1.15 billion from Congress—to add to a $100-million earmark he pushed through Congress in 2008 when he was a senator—to create a $1.25 billion federal fund to settle discrimination claims by what the Justice Department says is 66,000 African Americans who “farmed or attempted to farm” and were allegedly the victims of discrimination committed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) during the period from Jan. 1, 1981 to Dec. 31, 1996.
During that 16-year period, however, the number of African American farm operators in the United States peaked at 33,000 in 1982, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. By 1992, says the Census Bureau, the number of African American farmers had fallen as low as 19,000. (There were 2.24 million total farmers in the United States in 1982 and 1.93 million in 1992.)
A "farm operator," according to the Census, is "a person who operates a farm, either doing the work or making day-to-day decisions." Farm operators include both individuals who own farms and who rent them.
Read More: Obama Wants $1.25 B to Compensate up to 66,000 African American Farmers for USDA Discrimination in 1981-96; Census Says African American Farmers Peaked at 33,000 in Those Years
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