Moe v. Wesen

172 F. Supp. 259, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3417
CourtDistrict Court, D. Montana
DecidedMarch 6, 1959
DocketCiv. A. No. 186
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 172 F. Supp. 259 (Moe v. Wesen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Montana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moe v. Wesen, 172 F. Supp. 259, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3417 (D. Mont. 1959).

Opinion

JAMESON, District Judge.

This is an action under 7 U.S.C.A. § 1365 to obtain judicial review of plaintiffs’ 1959 wheat acreage allotment. [261]*261Plaintiffs are wheat farmers in Roosevelt County, Montana. Defendants are the local review committee, established under the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1938 as amended (7 U.S. C.A. § 1281 et seq.), to whom the plaintiffs appealed the determination of their 1959 allotment by the Roosevelt County Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee. The defendants affirmed the action of the county committee. The review committee has filed a transcript of the record and its findings of fact. Both parties have filed motions for summary judgment. 7 U.S.C.A. § 1366 provides that the review by the court is limited to questions of law and that findings of fact by the review committee, if supported by evidence, are conclusive.

Under the provisions of the Agricultural Adjustment Act, the Secretary of Agriculture is required to ascertain and proclaim each year a national acreage allotment for the next crop of wheat. 7 U.S.C.A. § 1332. The national acreage allotment is apportioned by the Secretary among the several states on the basis of the acreage seeded for the production of wheat for the ten preceding calendar years “(plus, in applicable years, the acreage diverted under previous agricultural adjustment and conservation programs),” with adjustment for abnormal weather conditions and trends in acreage (7 U.S.C.A. § 1334(a)). The state allotment is then apportioned by the Secretary on a similar basis among the counties in the state (7 U.S.C.A. § 1334(b)), and the allocation to the county is apportioned by the Secretary, through the local committees, among the farmers within the county, on the basis of “past acreage of wheat, tillable acres, crop-rotation practices, type of soil, and topography.” 7 U.S.C.A. § 1334(c).

The Act also provides for a' national marketing quota for wheat (7 U.S.C.A. § 1335(a)) and for farm marketing quotas (7 U.S.C.A. § 1340). During any marketing year for which quotas are in effect, the producer is subject to a penalty on his farm marketing excess (7 U.S. C.A. § 1340(2)), but the penalty may be postponed or avoided by storage or delivery of the excess to the Secretary of Agriculture (7 U.S.C.A. § 1340(3)). |

The wheat acreage allotment for 1959 was determined, pursuant to the applicable regulations1 by averaging the wheat history acreages for the four year base period consisting of the years 1954 through 1957, making an adjustment thereon 2, and multiplying the resulting figure by the county factor. This factor is determined by dividing the allotment available for distribution in the county by the total base acreage of all farms in the county.

The four-year historical acreage average, as adjusted, is termed the base acreage for the year. If a farmer complies with the program and plants only his allotted acreage of wheat, his wheat history acreage for that year will be his allotment plus acres diverted from pro-' duction in compliance with agricultural adjustment and conservation programs. The acres so diverted are commonly referred to as “diverted acres” for which a complying farmer is entitled to “diversion credit.” For a complier, the wheat history acreage and base acreage for any particular year are ordinarily the same. The regulations provide, however, that if a farmer knowingly overplants his allotment his wheat history acreage for that year is the actual wheat acreage planted.

It is undisputed that plaintiffs had a base acreage for the years in question of 2,412 acres, that they complied with the [262]*262program in 1954 and 1956, and that in 1955 and 1957 they intentionally over-seeded. In 1955 and 1957 they stored and bonded all excess wheat, in accordance with the regulations issued pursuant to to 7 U.S.C.A. § 1340, and consequently have not incurred the farm marketing penalty.

The county committee, in determining plaintiffs’ 1959 acreage allotment, used the base acreage of 2,412 for the years 1954 and 1956 and for the years 1955 and 1957 used the actual acreage which plaintiffs had planted to wheat, 2,152 and 2,-258 acres respectively. Applying the county factor of .683 resulted in an allotment of 1,612.6 acres for 1959. Plaintiffs contend that under 7 U.S.C.A. § 1334, as amended, the county committee should have used the base acreage instead of the actual acreage planted in the years 1955 and 1957 in determining the 1959 wheat allotment. If this had been done, plaintiffs’ allotment for 1959 would have been 1,647.4 acres, — a difference of 34.8 acres.

The regulations for the 1958 allotment provided that in arriving at the base acreage, the wheat history acreage for the years 1953 through 1956 should be considered, but permitted the county committee in the alternative to use the 1957 base acreage where appropriate. During the period of 1953 through 1956, plaintiffs overseeded only one year, and the county committee used the 1957 base acreage in determining the 1958 allotment. This base was 2,412 acres. The county factor was .682, resulting in an allotment of 1,645 acres for 1958. The regulations as originally issued did not permit the county committee to carry over the 1958 base acreage in arriving at the 1959 allotment.

Plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment is based on three grounds: (1) that the decision of the defendant review committee is not supported by sufficient competent evidence; (2) that the decision fails to apply properly the provisions of Public Law 85-366 “so as to prevent the plaintiffs from being penalized as to their wheat acreage history and the wheat acreage allotment based thereon;” and (3) that the regulations of the United States Department of Agriculture under which the allotment was determined are invalid and not authorized by the Act of Congress.

The facts are undisputed, and there is substantial evidence to support defendant’s findings. The questions for determination accordingly are (1) whether the regulations of the Secretary are valid; and (2) whether Public Law 85-366 is applicable in determining the 1959 allotment.

It is true, as plaintiffs contend, that an administrative officer may not establish regulations which are beyond the scope of his statutory authority. On the other hand, a regulation “should not be disregarded or annulled unless, in the judgment of the court, it is plainly and palpably inconsistent with law. Those who insist that * * * a regulation is invalid must make its invalidity so manifest that the court has no choice except to hold that the Secretary has exceeded his authority and employed means that are not at all appropriate to the end specified in the act of Congress.” Boske v. Comingore, 1900, 177 U.S. 459, 470, 20 S.Ct. 701, 706, 44 L.Ed. 846. Nor is the court “a tribunal for relief from the crudities and inequities of complicated experimental economic legislation.” Secretary of Agriculture v. Cent. Roig Co., 1950, 338 U.S. 604, 618, 70 S.Ct. 403, 410, 94 L.Ed. 381. “And with the wisdom, workability, or fairness, of the plan of regulation” the court has “nothing to do.” Wickard v. Filburn, 1942, 317 U.S. 111, 129, 63 S.Ct. 82, 91, 87 L.Ed. 122.

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Bluebook (online)
172 F. Supp. 259, 1959 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3417, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moe-v-wesen-mtd-1959.