This week on The Farm Report, Erin Fairbanks is talking with Mircha King of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives about the Pigford case- a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination on the part of the USDA concerning the distribution of loans and credits. Tune in to hear Mircha and Erin discuss the roots of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives in the Civil Rights Movement, the history and intricacies of the Pigford case, and the changes that black farmers see twenty years after the case. To learn more about the Pigford case, visit BlackFarmerCase.com. This episode has been brought to you by Fairway Market.

"What these lawsuits had asserted that the United States Department of Agriculture had systematically discriminated against African American farmers on the basis of race, which violates the 5th Amendment."

"Before Reagan left office, one of the things that he did was terminate the office of civil rights for the U.S.D.A... So for years there were stacks of boxes and boxes with claims of discrimination that no one even touched."

"We have all of these discrimination claims- we have black farmers, Native American farmers, women farmers, Hispanic farmers- and he [Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture] made a personal commitment to settle these claims."

-- Mircha King on The Farm Report