Virginia Buyout Illegal Say Farmers

Source from:  worldtobacco.co.uk 11/14/2005

US: Two farmers in Abingdon, Va., have filed a class-action lawsuit asking a federal judge to declare illegal the way the U.S. Department of Agriculture is handling the buyout of growers' federal quotas. William J. Neese and Daniel M. Johnson claim that the USDA's handling of the $10.1bn buyout plan is contrary to the law Congress passed when it abolished tobacco quotas and price supports. "The law required farmers who had grown tobacco for more than three years to receive $3 per pound based on 2002 market quotas, according to the lawsuit," writes Matthew Lakin of the Bristol Herald Courier. But the Agriculture Department is basing the payments on how much tobacco a farmer sold, not how much the quota allowed, with no allowance for crops lost due to drought or flood, the suit says. Neese estimates that the buyout changes have cost him more than $373,000, and Johnson estimates a cost of more than $286,000. The government has until Oct. 24 to file a response. Enditem