Farmer v. U.S. Government

With California Ag Today, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.

Litigation. It’s what makes the world go round or, in this case, the government and this one has the opportunity to reach far and wide.

On behalf of several Texas farmers, the Southeastern Legal Foundation and the Mountain States Legal Foundation have now filed a preliminary injunction regarding disaster payments. Specifically, they’re asking a federal court to stop the Biden Administration’s USDA from what they say is “unconstitutionally and unlawfully funneling disaster and COVID-19 relief funds to certain farmers based on race and gender.”

Precision Risk Management says the plaintiffs are Alan and Amy West, Bryan Baker, and Rusty Strickland. They’ve owned their farms for decades and suffered from the effects of droughts and COVID-19. Rather than help them, they say the USDA is harming them by favoring other producers at their expense based on factors like race and sex that were not authorized by Congress. USDA provides more money to “socially disadvantaged” farmers like women, American Indians, Asians, and many other groups.

SLF is suing USDA on the plaintiffs’ behalf for violating the Fifth Amendment Equal Protection Clause and the Administrative Procedure Act.