William M. Welch, USA TODAY
- After juggling odd jobs to keep his Mississippi farm going for more than half a century, Harvey White figures help from the federal government is long overdue.
White, 78, of Prentiss, Miss., is one of thousands of black farmers hoping to receive financial aid, including debt relief, as part of a $1.25 billion settlement with the federal government announced last week in a longstanding case of racial discrimination by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
White says the USDA over the years rejected at least five applications for operating loans for his farm where he raises cattle and grows wheat and beans, and a loan to buy a tractor and combine to expand his crops.
As a result, White says, he was forced to sell timber and do odd jobs to raise money to buy seed and fertilizer every planting season, and he had to reduce the acreage he could afford to plant.
