The Clinton administration is preparing legislation to offer employees of farmer-elected county committees full federal status with immediate tenure, Keith Kelly, the newly appointed administrator of the Farm Services Agency, confirmed to CongressDaily late last week.
The federalization is part of Agriculture Secretary Glickman's civil rights initiative, which began last December when a group of black farmers, claiming they were becoming an "endangered species," marched on the White House.
Since New Deal farm programs were established in the 1930s, farmer-elected county and state committees have hired local personnel paid with federal funds to hand out subsidies and keep track of farmers' production and yields.
But the USDA's recent civil rights report said that system has resulted in discriminatory hiring practices in those offices and in discrimination against minority farmers. Glickman has said making the county committee employees federal employees would give the USDA more authority over them.
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