A USDA portal has launched to record farmer claims related to “unfair and politically motivated lawfare originating under the Biden Administration.”
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the online portal on April 30: “We must ensure that our farmers and our ranchers have not and will not be targeted for living the American way of life.”
This follows the April 28 Trump Administration announcement that criminal charges against Charles and Heather Maude were being dropped. The South Dakota ranching couple was preparing for trial over a land dispute with the U.S. Forest Service.
The husband and wife duo, who were charged individually with criminal trespass, have a small cattle and hog operation with land adjacent to the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. The ranch land has been in the family since the 1910s.
“The Maudes are not criminals. They have worked their land since the early 1900s and something that should have been a minor civil land dispute that was over and done with quickly turned into an overzealous criminal prosecution of a hardworking family that was close to losing their home, children and livelihood. Not in this America, not under President Trump,” said Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins in a statement released by USDA.
The Maude family was in Washington, D.C., Wednesday for the event and unveiling of the portal.
USDA says any impacted individuals or businesses can submit their concerns and experiences so a team at USDA can promptly address their situation. Farmers are also invited to submit issues anonymously, with the understanding that USDA will not be able to contact them if they choose not to share their contact information.
The complaint portal is intended for farmers, ranchers and agriculture-related businesses.
For more, see usda.gov/lawfare.
