ABSTRACT
Many readers thumbing through the April 20th issue of the Herald of Randolph, Vermont, stopped in surprise when they read the big ad on page B-12. It was a notice for a farm sale by the federal government's Farmers Home Administration. One paragraph caused all the eyeball-rolling. It said that offers would be given priority in the following order: socially disadvantaged beginning farmers or ranchers; beginning farmers or ranchers; socially disadvantaged operators of not larger than a family-size farm; and operators of not larger than family-size farms. It said that offers would be given priority in the following order: "Socially disadvantaged" is a government euphemism for blacks, Hispanics, Indians, Asians, natives of Alaska, Pacific Islanders and white females. Most of us would say that farm wives and farm daughters are approximately as "socially advantaged" as their husbands or fathers, but according to the FmHA system they belong in a higher legal category of oppression and protection.
