Georgia's Freedom to Farm Act and Crop Insurance Fraud
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson with your Agribusiness Update.
**The Georgia General Assembly passed the Freedom to Farm Act, Georgia Farm Bureau’s 2022 spotlight issue.
After the Senate passed the bill on April 1, final passage came in the House on April 4 with a 106-60 vote and now moves on to the Governor’s desk to be signed into law.
Despite tons of opposition from environmental groups, GFB and allied ag groups were able to dispel much of the false information about the bill’s motivation.
www.gfb.org/media-and-
publications/news.cms/2022/1240/freedom-to-farm-act-receives-final-passage-in-georgia-legislature
**The White House released its Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Rural Playbook designed to help local, state, tribal, and territorial governments in rural areas unlock the benefits of investments in the national infrastructure.
The Rural Playbook provides rural communities with information on the “what, when, where, and how to apply” for funding under the law, making lobbying unnecessary.
**A crop insurance fraud case totaling $40 million dollars led to 23 people charged and 17 others paying penalties.
DTN says the case began in 2014 at the USDA’s Inspector General Office after tips of alleged fraud at Clay’s Tobacco Warehouse in Kentucky.
The defendants are accused of cheating the crop insurance program out of anywhere from under $10,000 to many millions of dollars.
The most common scheme centered around farmers with a good tobacco crop working with insurance agents and adjusters to claim the crop was damaged by storms or pests.
