Native American Farmers to Garner $760 Million in USDA Loan Bias Settlement

A settlement worth $760 million between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a class of Native American farmers who alleged discrimination by the government agency in providing loans and loan servicing was finally approved by a federal court in the District of Columbia April 28 (Keepseagle v. Vilsack).

Filed in 1999 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the class action alleged that between 1981 and 1999 the USDA denied Native American farmers and ranchers the same opportunities afforded to white farmers to obtain low interest rate loans and loan servicing. According to a statement ...