USDA launches portal for farmers to report alleged ‘lawfare’ under Biden
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched an online portal allowing farmers to submit complaints related to what it describes as “unfair and politically motivated lawfare originating under the Biden administration.” The announcement came days after the Trump administration declared it was dropping federal criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude, a South Dakota couple who operate a small hog and cattle farm.
Family charged over land use dispute
Twenty-five acres of the Maudes’ property border the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The family has claimed that, for decades, the U.S. Forest Service permitted their cattle to graze that land through an informal agreement. Believing the federal government would eventually survey and formally recognize the arrangement, the Maudes instead found themselves charged by the Biden administration with theft of government property.
The criminal case alleged that the Maudes did “knowingly steal, purloin, and convert to their own use” land managed by the federal government.
“This family, targeted solely over what should have been a minor civil dispute over grazing rights on 25 acres of public land, was prosecuted, credibly threatened with jail sentences so extreme that they were told to find alternatives to raise their young children,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said during a news conference Wednesday, April 30.
With the case being dropped by the USDA, it’s unclear whether the family will have to rent out the land from the federal government or if they own it outright.
Portal aims to collect similar complaints
Secretary Rollins said the new USDA web portal is intended for other potential victims, including farmers, ranchers and producers, who may have experienced similar lawfare from the Biden administration. According to the department, the portal provides a place to submit concerns and personal accounts so the USDA and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security can investigate the claims.
The Maude family appeared with Secretary Rollins during her announcement Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
