USA - Kansas farmer admits defrauding USDA crop insurance

22.10.2019 732 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
27.08.2026

Crop Insurance Add-Ons Surge as U.S. Farmers Expand Subsidized Coverage Nationwide

U.S. farmers sharply expanded area add-on crop insurance in 2026 after federal subsidies rose to 80%, reshaping coverage and federal costs.

27.08.2026

China grain imports in focus as crop damage hits key producing regions

Extreme heat, heavy rain and flooding across key Chinese farming regions are putting global grain and cotton exporters on alert, as markets assess whether crop damage could increase China’s import needs.

27.08.2026

Philippines - Benguet crop loss worst in Cordillera

The strong monsoon rains that have been pouring in the Cordillera region for nearly three weeks now have cost vegetable-producing Benguet province up to P446.55 million in farm losses, according to data consolidated by the Regional Development Council on Wednesday.

27.08.2026

USA - Bear damage costs Benzie County farmer at least $40,000 across 1,100 acres of corn

Corn growers around northern Michigan are getting a really good look at how this year's crop is shaping up before harvest, but one of them in Benzie County is getting to see a lot more than that.

27.08.2026

India - Shivraj Singh Chouhan reviews summer moong procurement and crop insurance in Madhya Pradesh

Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday conducted a virtual review meeting with the Agriculture and Horticulture Ministers of Madhya Pradesh at Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.

27.08.2026

India - Demand to withdraw farmer ID mandate for crop procurement

The Andhra Pradesh Koulu Rythu Sangham (AP Tenant Farmers’ Association) has demanded that the State government immediately withdraw its decision to make Farmer ID (Unique Farmer Number) mandatory for selling crops at government procurement centres, stating that the move would severely affect tenant farmers. 

26.08.2026

Lithuania declares nationwide emergency after storm causes heavy damage

Lithuania’s government declared a nationwide “extreme situation” Wednesday following a severe weekend storm that caused extensive damage to crops, livestock and agricultural infrastructure.

26.08.2026

Cameroon Sets 2026 Planting Windows to Help Southern Farmers Reduce Crop Losses

Planting too early or too late can cost farmers part of their harvest. Cameroon’s National Observatory on Climate Change, or ONACC, has now set rainfall and planting windows for the second 2026 farming season across the country’s southern regions, giving producers a tool to reduce weather-related crop losses.