Last month we introduced you to John Schwarz, The Farm Lawyer. As a farmer himself in Northern Indiana, he’s encountered many of the same issues you have. Schwarz lends his legal advice to farmers this time around on USDA wetland compliance and Swampbuster.
Swampbuster was part of the Food Security Act of 1985. It discourages the conversion of wetlands to cropland use.
“Farmers will run afoul when they see a small woods, or wet area, or other area on their farm that hasn’t been farmed, and they have the woody vegetation removed, they tile it, and they start farming it.”
Schwarz explains that any wetland converted prior to Dec. 23, 1985, is fine. But anything after that date, you could have some trouble on your hands. Any farmer in violation of Swampbuster becomes ineligible for payment from government programs.
In his view, penalties for converting a wetland or planting a wetland don’t fit the crime.
“I had clients that the wetland was cleared in 2000. The USDA did not find out that it had been cleared until 2012. What that means is you get to pay back money that you received from the government through the programs for each year that you were in violation. In this case, with these clients that I had, that came to be about $1.5 million.”
And that was for .4 acres of land! Luckily, those clients reached out to Schwarz who was able to find a legal exemption that helped them significantly.
“Sadly, I don’t think a lot of farmers know about these exemptions. You know, they get found to have a violation, and they don’t know about these things. They end up either being out of the program or paying a lot of money to back to the government.”
Schwarz encourages you to seek help in situations like these, or other legal matters, from an attorney who knows about agriculture. You can find him at TheFarmLawyer.com.
