About 1,000 African American farmers are joining together to seek fairness and equality from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Three African American farmers sued the USDA in August 1997 on behalf of all black farmers in the United States, said Sam Taylor, executive director of the Black Farmers and Agriculturist Association in Washington D.C.

“For the past 14 years, the USDA has actively discriminated black farmers from local farm loan programs,” Taylor said. “Close to 1,000 farmers have joined suit [since the beginning].”

The loan programs aid farmers in crop production, as well as buying land and equipment needed for farming.

Judge Paul Friedman of Washington D.C. certified a National Class Action lawsuit for all black farmers who worked between 1983 and 1998, Taylor said.

“The judge found enough probable liability that the farmers’ cases have enough standing,” Taylor said. “The USDA has admitted to [the discrimination].”

Gary Cornelious, Iowa State Farm Service Agency committee member and supervisor of Media Resources in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, said this “is a civil rights issue that will trickle down to benefit everyone.”

Cornelious was nominated by Sen. Tom Harkin to be a presidential appointee on the Civil Rights Action team in Iowa.

“I make sure that federal programs are distributed equally and that there is no discrimination,” Cornelious said.

Taylor believes as the settlement comes to an end, society is going from a “terrible tragedy to government acknowledgment.”

“We are beginning to see the fruit of all of our work,” Taylor said, “and we are working to get back to the country we thought we had.”

There are currently 15,000 black farmers in the United States recognized by the USDA, Taylor said.

“In 1920, there were close to a million black farmers,” Cornelious said. “There should be close to 3 million black farmers now if the services were fair and equitable.”

Cornelious said the state of Iowa does not face the same problems as 22 southern states, where most of the discrimination is occurring.

“Most of the African Americans live in rural areas in the South where we settled in slavery,” Cornelious said. “[Iowa has] one of the finest farm services in the United States.”

Currently, the farmers are in the middle of continuous negotiations over the settlement of the case.

The settlement will include a combination of money and access to the USDA’s farming program and other local services that will help get farm operations started again.