Environmental group sues over LBL farm subsidies

An environmental group is suing a pair of Kentucky farmers over subsidies they received over a two-year period for growing corn and soybeans in Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area in western Kentucky. Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics wants a judge to order farmers Kerry Underhill and Bobby Cunningham to pay between $5,500 and $11,000 per day for each day they received subsidies for farming the land without a valid lease from the U.S. Forest Service. The Oregon-based environmental group also wants an injunction stopping the farmers from filing for further subsidies without a lease with the government. At issue is whether Underhill and Underhill Farms in Cadiz, and Cunningham and Cunningham Farms in Murray, should have been eligible for federal farm subsidies on their crops between Jan. 1, 2008 and March 19, 2010. The environmental organization said the two had leases with the National Wild Turkey Federation, not the U.S. Forest Service, making them ineligible for subsidies...more