USA - Kansas farmer admits defrauding USDA crop insurance

22.10.2019 766 views
A Kansas farmer has admitted to defrauding federal government crop insurance programs before lying in court documents when filing for bankruptcy. Trego County farmer Kevin W. Struss pleaded guilty Monday at a federal courthouse in Wichita to one count of federal crop insurance fraud and one count of bankruptcy fraud, court documents show. In the plea deal, prosecutors said they plan to ask the court for more than $2.1 million in restitution. That total includes more than $600,000 in insurance premium benefits, more than $1.2 million in federal crop insurance premium subsidies and more than $270,000 in administrative costs. Struss admitted in the plea agreement that in the spring of 2015 he devised a scheme to defraud the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation. The plan involved making false proof of loss statements that under-reported his total harvested bushels of corn and grain sorghum, which is also known as milo. Those crops had been insured with an FCIC subsidy. As a result of the scheme, he was paid crop insurance benefits to which he was not entitled.
Then in April 2018, Struss filed for bankruptcy. He marked that he had not transferred property to anyone in the previous two years. In fact, Struss admitted in his guilty plea, he had transferred $470,000 to someone else within the three months before he filed for bankruptcy. Though Struss is only charged with crop insurance fraud from the 2015 reports, prosecutors alleged that his scheme to defraud the U.S. Department of Agriculture continued with false reports in 2016 and 2017. The criminal case was filed against the rural WaKeeney farmer earlier this month. That first year, in 2015, Struss allegedly under-reporting the yields of his corn crop by about 23,524 bushels and his grain sorghum crop by about 31,208 bushels. The alleged false reports resulted in Struss receiving about $201,000 in federal crop insurance benefits and about $511,000 in federal crop insurance premium subsidies that he was not entitled to. Prosecutors also say the scheme led the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation to pay additional administrative costs to ARMtech Insurance Services that would not have been paid if the reports were accurate. In 2016, prosecutors alleged, Struss under-reported his corn crop by about 116,194 bushels and sought more than $1.5 million in federal crop insurance indemnification payments to which he was not entitled. The claim was denied by Rural Community Insurance Services. Federal court records show that Struss sued Rural Community Insurance Services in April 2018 in relation to his 2016 corn crop. That case is in arbitration. In a separate case filed that same month, Struss sued the USDA, Risk Management Agency and Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, also in relation to his 2016 corn crop. A federal judge in Kansas City ruled in favor of the government agencies this summer. In 2017, prosecutors alleged, Struss under-reported his sorghum crop by about 35,530 bushels, causing Farmers Mutual Hail Insurance Company to pay him more than $108,000 in benefits to which he was not entitled. Prosecutors alleged in the bankruptcy fraud charge that Struss lied in his petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2018 because he had wired $470,000 to Kellie Acker in the previous months. A pair of online obituaries show Acker was Struss’s sister-in-law in 2015 and was his fiance in 2018.
Source - https://www.kansas.com
15.09.2026

New thrips pest causes berry crop losses in Australia

Berry growers in south-east Queensland, Australia, are reporting crop losses following the detection of Frankliniella intonsa, a flower thrips recorded in the country for the first time. 

15.09.2026

Philippine crop insurance claims allocation jumps fivefold

Private insurers are set to take on more farm risk.

15.09.2026

India - Over 200 Tractors Hit Roads As Farmers Rally Against Satellite-Based Crop Surveys In Bhopal

Farmers under the Bharatiya Kisan Sangh banner took out tractor rallies across Madhya Pradesh, with more than 200 tractors participating in Bhopal district. 

15.09.2026

Nepal - Bhotekoshi-Trishuli floods cause Rs 1.09 billion crop damage, Rs 1.11 billion livestock losses

The August 26 flash floods in the Bhotekoshi-Trishuli river system damaged 1,669 hectares of paddy fields and wiped out an estimated 5,843 tonnes of rice production, according to a government damage assessment.

15.09.2026

India - Beerwah farmers seek hailstorm compensation

Farmers from several villages of Beerwah tehsil in Budgam district have urged the government to provide adequate compensation to all farmers whose standing paddy and vegetable crops were extensively damaged in the recent hailstorm.

15.09.2026

India - Farmers lodge plaints against stray bulls over crop damage in Odisha

Officers of Odisha’s Satyabadi police station were taken aback when hundreds of farmers from Balapur panchayat lodged written complaints, seeking police intervention against the stray bulls.

13.09.2026

USA - Kansas Corn Crop Hit Hard as Extreme Heat and Drought Slash 2026 Yield Potential

Kansas corn faces major yield losses as extreme heat, drought and hot winds damage dryland fields, accelerate harvest and pressure farm margins.

13.09.2026

Generational renewal challenges Spain’s fruit and vegetable sector

John F. Kennedy once said: "Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." The quote is relevant to the challenge of generational renewal in Spain's fruit and vegetable sector.