USA - Kansas farmer admits defrauding USDA crop insurance

22.10.2019 416 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
15.01.2026

Soil-based method can stop locust swarms from destroying crops

"They're very destructive when there's a lot of them, but one-on-one, what's not to love?" says Arianne Cease. She's talking about locusts.

15.01.2026

Fifty French farmers arrested after storming agriculture ministry building in Paris

Around 100 members of the Confédération Paysanne union entered a section of the ministry, which they occupied for an hour to denounce the government's agricultural policy. 

15.01.2026

Kenya - Government sets up strategic animal feed reserves to shield livestock from drought

In a bid to protect livestock and pastoralist livelihoods from recurring droughts, the government has ordered the establishment of strategic national animal feed reserves.

15.01.2026

India - Tamil Nadu govt releases Rs 111.96 crore to farmers for crop damage

Tamil Nadu government on Thursday said it has issued a Government Order releasing Rs 111.96 crore to provide relief to 84,848 farmers for damage of agricultural and horticultural crops on 1.39 lakh acres due to rains during the Northeast monsoon and Cyclone Ditwah in 2025.

15.01.2026

How Agriculture Insurance Is Transforming Farmers’ Climate Resilience in Rwanda

When floods swept through Kamonyi District years ago, maize fields that had taken months of labor were flattened overnight. For many farmers, those moments meant more than lost crops—they threatened livelihoods, school fees, and food security.

15.01.2026

Taiwan develops TC9 banana resistant to Panama disease

The Taiwan Banana Research Institute has developed a new banana cultivar, Tai-Chiao No. 9 (TC9), with resistance to Panama disease. The variety is intended for future deployment beyond Taiwan, pending completion of plant breeders' rights in overseas markets.

14.01.2026

UKEF backs €193mn loan for key agricultural project in Uganda

UK Export Finance (UKEF) has backed a €192.9mn loan to finance the first phase of a key agricultural project in Uganda set to boost the country’s economy.

14.01.2026

India - Haryana releases ₹116 crore to 53,821 farmers for crop loss due to heavy rains

Providing financial relief to farmers, Haryana chief minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday released a crop compensation of ₹116.15 crore to 53,821 farmers for losses suffered due to heavy rains in August-September.