In Texas and across the Southwest, Hispanic farmers have been fighting the Agriculture Department for close to a decade. The farmers say the department's Farm Services Agency discriminated against them — denying or delaying loans, and refusing to investigate when they cried foul.

The government settled a similar complaint brought by African-American farmers for billion. And while the claims of discrimination and other factors are almost identical, the Hispanic farmers have gotten nothing.

'Always No'

Noe Obregon, 47, looks exactly like the South Texas farmer he's been all his life: cowboy hat, blue denim shirt, jeans and cowboy boots. Obregon says that in the 1970s, '80s and '90s, it didn't matter what you looked like or how good of a farmer you were. If you were Hispanic in Texas, getting a farm loan from the USDA was like the quest for the Holy Grail.

"I would go and apply, and it would take about two to three weeks," says Obregon.

"Then they would turn me down, say it was a high risk crop or different reasons. But it was always, 'No.' Then I would appeal, and it would take 90 to 120 days, and by then my planting season was over."

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