Another Government Program That Makes Absolutely No Sense

Survival Joe | Food • Government Overreach • News

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Depression-Era Law Putting Raisin Farmers Out of Business

In what Justice Elena Kagan described as possibly “the world’s most outdated law,” small raisin farmers in the state of California are required to give their raisins to the USDA and then buy them back so they can sell them at market.

In the 1930s, the Raisin Administrative Committee formed a law called the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act.

As part of the act, raisin farmers are required by law to turn over as much as 50% of their crop to the committee, who then holds and markets the raisins for the farmers.

Today, Marvin Horne and his wife are facing a fine of $700,000 dollars because they refuse to follow the Committee’s requirements. They decided to market their own raisins instead of having the committee do it for them.

As Marvin and his wife contend, they are not paid for the raisins they turn over to the committee, so why should they continue with the practice?

Horne and his wife recently sued, and in Horne v. Department of Agriculture it was ruled that farmers can be prevented from bringing their own produce to the free market.

Horne thinks the ruling is unjust. “I didn’t choose to fight, all I did was to choose to pack and market my own raisins,” he said.

The law originated during the Great Depression as a means to help support small farmers when it was feared low crop prices might lead to social and political unrest.

Now the archaic act keeps farmers dependent on the committee and doesn’t allow them to make the full market value of their own crops.

“It was a theft. The reserve was nothing but highway robbery,” Marvin Horne said. “They want us to pay for our own raisins that we grew.”

“There are already farmers that have lost their land,” said Laura Horne. “You cannot work for a whole year and give away 47 percent of what you made and keep that business afloat.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that it is not in the power of the court to amend constitutional regulations in regards to agriculture. It also ruled that since the raisins were not physically seized, the committee was justified in issuing a fine to the Hornes.

The Hornes are being represented by Brian C. Leighton and will be taking their case to the Supreme Court.