Beard

PROCEEDINGS: Cross Motions for Summary Judgment

This matter is before the court on Cross Motions for Summary Judgment in the form of a joint briefing ordered by the court. These motions are appropriate for resolution without oral argument. Fed. R.Civ.P. 78; Local Rule 7.11. After fully considering the briefs and papers pertaining to this matter, we rule as follows:

I. Background

Plaintiffs Donald B. Beard and Celeste Svihovec Beard (the “Beards”) filed their original complaint on February 19, 1999. The Beards filed their Third Amended Complaint (“TAC”) on May 4, 2000, in which they seek declaratory and injunctive relief against the Secretary of Agriculture for the alleged arbitrary and capricious denial of their property’s enrollment in the United States Department of Agriculture’s (“USDA”) Conservation Reserve Program (“CRP”).

In 1985, Congress established the CRP, which was designed to encourage owners of highly erodible lands with eligible cropping histories to take those lands out of agricultural production in order to “conserve and improve the soil and water resources of farmlands.” 16 U.S.C. §§ 3801 , 3831-3832; Strong v. Glickman, 50 F.Supp.2d 1, 2 (D.D.C.1999). Under…