Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-Secretary’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff’s action under section 702 of Administrative Procedure Act that challenged decision by Farm Services Agency to deny plaintiff’s application to re-enroll portion of his land in Conservation Reserve Program that paid defendant to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production. While plaintiff had successfully participated in said Program in past by planting trees on subject land, Department of Agriculture has broad discretion to evaluate offers of enrollment in CRP on competitive basis by considering environmental benefits of producer’s land relative to its costs. Moreover, record showed that plaintiff had never planted subject land with more than one species of hardwood trees, and FSA did not abuse its discretion when it determined that subject land did not satisfy 2006 requirement that land contain “mixed hardwoods.”
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Administrative Procedures Act