U.S. District Court Chief Judge Peter Welte sentenced Buxton, North Dakota farmer Darren Wade Tronson to one year of supervised probation. In addition, Tronson must forgo a $272,000 crop insurance indemnity payment for 2019, pay $10,000 in restitution in connection with the settlement of his 2017 and 2018 potato crop insurance claims and be barred from all federal programs for ten years. An investigation found that from 2017 through 2019, Tronson planted potatoes in Grand Forks and Traill Counties and purchased multi-peril crop insurance. Tronson claimed significant losses for all three years. “Crop insurance fraud is a serious crime that hurts taxpayers and honest producers,” said Mac Schneider, U.S. Attorney. “Fraudulent activity and failure to follow good farming practices undermines this program and misdirects taxpayer funds from the purposes they were intended.” The case was investigated by the USDA Office of Inspector General and the Risk Management Agency.
News Categories
Latest RRFN Podcasts
Subscribe to RRFN
Get a weekly digest from RRFN to stay up-to-date on all the latest news in agriculture.