USDA Reform Pace Questioned

John Boyd, president of the National Association of Black Farmers, told the House Agriculture Department Operations, Nutrition and Foreign Agriculture Subcommittee Wednesday that Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman's plan to improve civil rights at USDA is going so slowly that minority farmers may not get needed credit for this year's planting.

At the hearing, Boyd also said the current system of farmer- elected county committees and offices staffed by a mix of federal and county employees results in discrimination in the delivery of farm programs and minority farmers losing their land. Boyd said the system should be eliminated in favor of USDA-run local offices.

Glickman has said he will ask Congress to change the elections procedures for county committees to assure the election of more minorities and women and federalize all employees in the Farm Service Agency so that USDA can hold them accountable more easily. County committees certify farmers' eligibility for farm programs and make decisions about the distribution of conservation monies.

Jennifer Felzien, president of Women Involved in Farm Economics, said that even though a farm wife may spend days compiling production records in preparation for meeting with local FSA officials, FSA employees are likely to address all questions toward her husband "because he is recognized as the farmer."

Felzien disagreed with Boyd about abolishing farmer county committees. She said the committees still play a credible role in administering farm programs and women should be encouraged to run for them.

Felzien criticized a USDA rule that says that committee members may not hold any state or national level position in a farm organization. Told that the regulation is contained in a 1989 USDA handbook, Rep. Eva Clayton, D-N.C., the subcommittee's ranking member, questioned why USDA had not updated the handbook since its 1994 reorganization.

Clayton said that House Agriculture Chairman Bob Smith, R-Ore., is planning a hearing on USDA discrimination in April and Glickman will be asked to testify.