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According to the Agriculture Census of 1997, Hispanics or Latinos were the largest and fastest growing minority farmer group in the U.S. They numbered nearly 28,000, an increase of 32 percent from 1992 to 1997. However, two experts voiced their concerns in a lengthy article about possible undercounting of these farmers in the 2002 census. Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania Victor Garcia and Juan Marinez of Michigan State University Extension wrote that new immigrants who do not seek assistance from the Farm Service Agency or other USDA providers or are not familiar with the census are likely to be missed. Census studies specifically designed to determine the causes of census undercounts among minority populations found that limited or no knowledge of the census, language and illiteracy problems, fear and apprehension of government agencies and immigration status keep minority groups from participating in the census. An undercount of Latino farmers results in unreliable figures on the size and growth of this farmer population, they wrote. “In fact, Extension agents, as we found, may not always be aware of their existence.” There is growing evidence that immigrant farmers can benefit from USDA and its many agencies, they wrote. Many of the farmers are becoming indebted financially as they use their credit cars or high interest loans to farm and, in the worst cases, falling into bankruptcy.

Source: Garcia, Victor, and Juan Marinez, “Exploring Agricultural Census Undercounts Among Immigrant Hispanic/Latino Farmers with an Alternative Enumeration Project.” Journal of Extension, October 2005, http://www.joe.org/joe/2005october/a2.shtml