I cannot believe this actually happened, but I won. Now let me explain.
About 3 years ago I applied for a USDA-NRCS EQUIP Cost Share Program to convert a corn field I had into a grass field. It is a long story, but basically when a dairy farm that used my fields went bankrupt, I was left with a big problem. The field was on a 15% grade, with highly-erodible soil. Twice the
water coming off this field washed out so bad into a paved roadway that I had to take the loader of my
tractor and scoop the soil back up and put it into my field.
Well I applied for the program (essentially a grant), but the USDA-NRCS nevr explained anything about what I applied for. They also never showed up on farm. The day before the deadline, the woman running the NRCS called up and asked where the field was, and I told her, but all she wanted to do was pass the paperwork in and get the deadline over...a paper shuffle. So I was denied the grant, but a farmer only has 15 days to file and appeal, then another 15 days to file another another document saying you really want an appeal. Well I missed the deadline for that years appeal...
Automatically your request gets rolled into the next year, and sure enough it was denied again. I WAS LIVID. Because my wife is on the board that over-sees the NRCS I knew they had more funding available then what they had applications for, in essence they had money to pay for it, not to mention soil erosion was what the NRCS was founding upon in 1936. And now 3 years had passed and no one from the NRCS even bothered to show up on my farm. Well this time I was denied I did not miss the appeal.
A farmer has to pretty much jump through hoops in quick succession to do it, but I basically filed a federal lawsuit over this. The next day the
local NRCS people showed up. I was working at the Christian camp, and yet they did not care, they wanted to talk to me at all costs. They were not used to a farmer filing a federal lawsuit over their inaction. They tried to get me to drop the lawsuit, but I was mad. They had not showed on the farm for 2 years, but I file a lawsuit and they are willing to show up anywhere to meet me the day after!
So the pre-hearing by phone went well even though I figured I would lose. The system is screwy, a farmer has to prove the NRCS was wrong, and yet the NRCS cannot be found guilty even if they did something wrong. As the Federal Judge admitted, the whole appeal system is just a way for farmers to vent. I was hoping to show that some issues were going on in my county, that the USDA-NRCS had their noses stuck in computer screens and not getting out of the office to talk to farmers.
I also elected to have the trial held in person, in Bangor, Maine and not by mail or over the phone. So they flew the Federal Judge out to Bangor to have this hearing in January. I was pretty much screwed because there was no accountability on the part of the NRCS, they just said, "we went by policy", which is true they did, even though they admitted it was a flawed policy. Now I say that because I was denied because crop rotating a field is not a "core practice", it is a minor practice that essentially does not get funded. It does not even get ranked. BUT no one explained this because no one ever talked to me, it was just a paper shuffle. However if I had put down that the ground was forever going to be grass and not rotated between corn and grass, it was a "core practice", I would have been ranked higher, and because of the high amount of funding, the fact that the watershed is high priority, I am a beginner farmer, and low income; I would have most likely been funded. But they never showed up and explained this, so I was thinking where row crops get all the funding here, putting down crop rotation was a better choice.
Well I go to court and really have nothing. My wife testifies that funding was available, but we were still denied. And me, I just say that the USDA-NRCS has a silly argument; "its like going down the road, seeing a bridge is out, driving into the river and telling the cop, 'well the GPS System said take this road.' They knew it was a flawed policy, but just did it anyway. They knew showing up on a farm was a requirement."
Well wonder of wonders the Federal Judge sent me his verdict and said I met an incredibly hard burden of proof, that the NRCS was wrong because they never granted me the technical assistance I asked for, they had funding and denied me, and that his recommendation was basically get my project funded after the fact! I can't believe I actually won.
This is good because the field in question was ripped open, but because I lacked the funding to sow it down, it just got worse as far as erosion goes, and basically I was left with a mess when the dairy farm filed for bankruptcy and left it. (They were supposed to crop rotate between grass and corn every 3 years because of the hillside and erodible soil). They also changed the policy down to the local NRCS office and now every farm applying must be visited, which is good, no more office-jockies.
But in a nut shell, the little guy took on
city hall and won!
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