The nature of credit risk assessment and basis of loan approval decisions of the Farm Service Agency are analyzed in the aftermath of the black farmers’ 1997 class action suit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This study did not uncover convincing evidence of racial...

This study analyzes the courts’ denial of women farmers’ motion for class-action certification of their lawsuits alleging gender discrimination in Farm Service Agency (FSA) lending decisions. The plaintiffs’ claim of “commonality†of circumstances in women...

This study provides a different perspective in revisiting the racial and gender discrimination issue regarding FSA loans. The Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition method, commonly used in wage discrimination analysis, is employed to determine whether there exist unwarranted differences between the loan...