Dighton v. Coffman

• Citation: 178 F. Supp. 114
• Decision Date: 04 June 1959
• Docket Number: No. 1648-D.,1648-D.
• Parties: Henry Timmons DIGHTON, Plaintiff, v. James COFFMAN, Joe V. Harmon, and E. W. Hartwig, as the Review Committee for Piatt County, Illinois, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Illinois

178 F. Supp. 114

Henry Timmons DIGHTON, Plaintiff, v. James COFFMAN, Joe V. Harmon, and E. W. Hartwig, as the Review Committee for Piatt County, Illinois, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, pursuant to the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938, as amended, Defendants.

No. 1648-D.

United States District Court E. D. Illinois.

June 4, 1959.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Robert P. Shonkwiler, Monticello, Ill., for plaintiff.

Casper Murphy, Department of Agriculture, Chicago, Ill., for defendants.

PLATT, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff, Henry Timmons Dighton, has been the owner and operator of a farm of about 435 acres of crop land in Piatt County, Illinois, since prior to 1953. For the planting years 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 his base acreage for wheat on his farm was fixed at 110 acres by the County ASC Committee. In 1958 in accordance with the instructions of the State ASC Committee, the County ASC Committee determined wheat acreage allotments upon the historical average of wheat planted as provided in § 728.917 (b). Because plaintiff failed to plant wheat in 1954, his acreage for that year was fixed at 0 for the purpose of computing the historical average. Consequently, his base acreage was reduced to 82 acres by the County ASC Committee, which cut his wheat acreage allotment to be harvested in 1959 to 49.3 acres. Plaintiff was dissatisfied with his allotment or marketing quota of 49.3 acres and made application for review. After the first hearing on July 18, 1959 the Review Committee denied his appeal, and on rehearing on December 16, 1958, the Committee affirmed its prior determination.

The controversy stems from the following facts: Section 334 of the Agricultural Adjustment Act (7 U.S.C.A. § 1334) was amended by Public Law 690, 83rd Congress, approved August 28, 1954, to add a new section (f) which reads as follows:

"`(f) Any part of any 1955 farm wheat acreage allotment on which wheat will not be planted and which is voluntarily surrendered to the county committee shall be deducted from the allotment to such farm and may be reapportioned by the county committee to other farms in the same county receiving allotments in amounts determined by the county committee to be fair and reasonable on the basis of past acreage of wheat, tillable acres, crop rotation practices, type of soil, and topography. If all of the allotted acreage voluntarily surrendered is not needed in the county, the county committee may surrender the excess acreage to the State committee to be used for the same purposes as the State acreage reserve under subsection (c) of this section. Any allotment transferred under this provision shall be regarded for the purposes of subsection (c) of this section as having been planted on the farm from which transferred rather than on the farm to which transferred, except that this shall not operate to make the farm from which the allotment was transferred eligible for an allotment as having wheat planted thereon during the three-year base period: Provided, That notwithstanding any other provisions of law, any part of any 1955 farm acreage allotment may be permanently released in writing to the county committee by the owner and operator of the farm, and reapportioned as provided herein. Acreage surrendered, reapportioned under this subsection, and planted shall be credited to the State and county in determining future acreage allotments.'"

On September 24, 1954, at 8:51 a. m., the Secretary of Agriculture delivered to the Director, Division of the Federal Register, for publication, a regulation which was printed in the Federal Register on September 25, 1954, (19 F.R. 6157) setting forth the amendment by Congress and reciting:

"The purpose of this amendment is to provide for the release and reapportionment of unused 1955 farm wheat acreage allotments which are voluntarily released to the county committee.

"Since farmers in many areas are now preparing to seed wheat for the 1955 crop, it is imperative that they be notified of this amendment and of any revised farm acreage allotments resulting therefrom as soon as possible. Accordingly, it is hereby found that compliance with the public notice, procedure, and 30-day effective date provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act 5 U.S.C.A. § 1001 et seq. is impracticable and contrary to the public interest, and the amendment herein shall become effective upon filing of this document with the Director, Division of the Federal Register."

The regulation stated in part:

"728.518 (b) Released voluntarily to county committee. Any part of any 1955 farm wheat acreage allotment on which wheat will not be planted in 1955 and which is voluntarily released to the county committee by the closing date established by the State committee for the entire State, or for areas in the State if there is a substantial difference in planting dates for different areas in the State, which shall be the date on which the planting of wheat normally becomes general on farms in the State or area, shall be deducted from the wheat acreage allotment for such farm and may be reapportioned by the county committee not later than the date established by the State committee, which shall be the latest date on which wheat can normally be planted on farms in the State or area with reasonable expectations of producing an average crop, to other farms receiving allotments in the same county in amounts determined to be fair and reasonable on the basis of the wheat acreage for the years 1952 and 1953, tillable acres, crop rotation practices, type of soil, and topography, but without regard to the limitations imposed under § 728.516. If all the allotted acreage voluntarily released is not needed in the county, the county committee may surrender the excess acreage to the State committee to be used for new farm allotments as provided under § 728.522, but without regard to the limitation imposed under § 728.521 with respect to the wheat acreage indicated by cropland, soil type, and topography. Any wheat acreage allotment released for 1955 only shall, in determining future wheat acreage allotments, be regarded as having been planted on the farm releasing such allotments if wheat was seeded on such farm for harvest as grain in at least one of the three years immediately preceding the year for which the allotment is determined. Any part of the farm acreage allotment may be permanently released in writing to the county committee by the owner and operator of the farm and reapportioned as provided in this paragraph, in which case the farm from which the allotment is released shall be considered as having no wheat on such released acreage for any of the 1952, 1953, and 1954 crops. In determining future farm wheat acreage allotments, the acreage planted for harvest as grain in 1955 of reapportioned acreage allotment under this paragraph shall not be considered. For purposes of determining future State and county acreage allotments, reapportioned acreage will be credited to the State and to the county in which such acreage was planted.

* * * * *

"Done at Washington, D. C., this 22d day of September 1954."

The State Committee, on September 21, 1954, pursuant to instructions of the Secretary, fixed October 1, 1954 as the closing date for farmers to release unused acreage allotments and October 15, 1954 as the final date for farmers desiring additional allotments to apply for additional acreage. (County Committee's Ex. No. 1.)

In response to a request from the Illinois ASC Office of October 22, 1954, (County Committee's Ex. No. 3) the office manager of the Piatt County ASC Office reported on October 25, 1954, "that there were not any acreage of 1955 wheat allotments released and reapportioned under the provisions of recent legislation, in Piatt County." (County Committee's Ex. No. 4.)

At the first hearing, plaintiff, by letter informed the Review Committee that he was unable to plant wheat in 1954 for the reason that he was changing from a corn picker to a picker sheller operation and was unable to plant any wheat or to hire anyone to do it for him, and that due to a change in operation on the farm he should be credited in 1958 with having planted the wheat in 1954. At the first hearing the County Review Committee made the following findings and conclusions:

"Findings of Fact

"In the fall of 1954, Mr. Dighton did not plant any wheat because they were changing from picker to picker sheller operation for corn. They did not have time to `plant' any wheat, so they tried to hire someone to plant the wheat. They could not find anyone to plant their wheat, so they decided not to plant any wheat. Mr. Dighton stated at the time of change in 1954 that he felt the picker sheller operation was more important than seeding wheat."

"Conclusions

"The review committee did not see where Mr. Dighton had a change in operation since the farm had the same owner and operator as previously.

"Our regulations No. 1023 (Wheat-55-1) stated no diversion credit would be given a producer if he did not plant any wheat for harvest in 1955."

At the second hearing plaintiff testified substantially to the facts set forth in his letter and in addition stated that he had a base wheat acreage for 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1957 of 110 acres and had planted his full marketing quota for each year except '54; that on October 15 he called Eddie Stout, who was then the County ASC Office Manager, and told him that he was not planting any wheat and was releasing his wheat acreage for the year; that Stout "told him there is no consequence." Evidence was introduced at the hearing that the State ASC Committee received a telegram under date of May 15 from the Secretary of Agriculture advising of an amendment to § 728.917 by the addition of subsection (d) (Said amendment issued May 19, 1958 and was published in 23 F.R. 3511¹ on May 22, 1958.) allowing County Committees, with the approval of the State Committee, to establish base acreages by a...