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   Vol.64/No.44            November 20, 2000 
 
 
Farmers hold protest against discrimination by Agriculture Dept.
 
BY JOHN STUDER  
PHILADELPHIA--Three farmers from southern New Jersey led a protest at the offices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) here November 1. The farmers, Anna Marie Codario, Mary Ordille, and Mary Visconti, are demanding that the federal agency end its discrimination against them and allow them to farm their land.

Two dozen people took part in the protest, including farmers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania and representatives of the Wages for Housework Campaign, National Organization for Women, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Socialist Workers Party, and Farm Workers Support Committee (CATA).

Codario has been fighting for more than 20 years to hold onto her farm and to protest the USDA's discriminatory efforts to strip her of her land. Inspired by the struggle of farmers who are Black to keep their farms, Codario, who is white, established a chapter of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association (BFAA) in New Jersey.

Codario 63, is both a school teacher and a third-generation vegetable and orchard farmer. She has been tangling with the government farm lending agency since 1977. After years of refusing to meet with her, refusing to grant her loans, and denying her services, the government agency is now trying to force the sale of her farm.

The women farmers' cases of discrimination against the USDA are being reviewed by an administrative law judge appointed by the agency to police itself. The November 1 protest was organized to demand that independent arbitrators be assigned to review their cases.

"Letting the USDA review their own discrimination is like putting the fox in charge of the chicken coop," Codario told the crowd.

Sam Taylor, executive director of BFAA, told the gathering that the fight by Black farmers is being joined by a growing number of others who have faced discrimination. He pointed to recent lawsuits filed by Native American and women farmers fighting to keep their land and win restitution from the government for decades of discrimination.

"We have to work for each other," Clarence Hardy, a Black farmer, told the crowd. "Our battle is with the system."

Marge Niedda of CATA described the ongoing battle by mushroom workers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for union representation and contracts. "The farm workers' struggle is directly tied to the fight of small farmers," she said.  
 
 
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