2. Background  

In February 1997, the USDA Civil Rights Action Team (CRAT) report recommended that the Department establish a diverse commission to examine the problems facing small and limited resource farmers and develop a national policy on small farms. The CRAT Report was prepared in response to published reports and testimony given during civil rights listening sessions conducted in the winter of 1996. 

According to some of those testifying at these listening sessions, African American farmers lose their land at a rate three times higher than farmers overall. 

In July 1997, Secretary Glickman implemented Departmental Regulation No. 1043-43.This regulation established the National Commission on Small Farms (Commission). The purpose of the Commission was to gather and analyze information regarding small U.S. farms and ranches and recommend to the Secretary of Agriculture a national strategy to ensure their continued viability in U.S. agriculture, including specific measures which could be adopted by the public, non-profit and private sectors to enhance the economic livelihood of small farms. 

On July 1997, Secretary Glickman appointed the 30-member National Commission on Small Farms to determine a course of action for USDA to recognize, respect, and respond to the needs of small farms, ranches and woodlots (hereafter referred to as small farms). Between July and September of 1997, the Commission held several public hearings and meetings to solicit ideas and input directly from small farmers to determine ways that USDA could better assist them. 

On January 22, 1998, the Commission submitted its report, A Time to Act, to the Secretary of Agriculture. As stated by the Commission, "the report was the product of considerable discussion and deliberation based on extensive oral and written testimonies and suggestions gleaned from the Commission's many regional hearings, as well as from written materials submitted by the Commission."  The report included eight policy goals and 146 recommendations based on written and oral testimony from over 600 people attending the seven public hearings and meetings held around the country.   

According to the Commission, the report "focuses on those farms with less than $250,000 gross receipts annually, on which day-to-day labor and management are provided by the farmer and/or the farm family that owns the production or owns, or leases, the productive assets". 

The Department has made considerable progress in addressing the specific recommendations included in the Commission's report.  A Report outlining USDA’s progress and achievements in response to these recommendations is currently being developed and will be available on this web site in August 1999.