United States v. Lennard L. Mead

Lennard Mead and the other appellees are in trouble over a series of government payments for “farmer’s conservation practices.” These payments were pursuant to a Department of Agriculture conservation program developed under the authority of the Soil Conservation and Domestic Allotment Act, 16 U. S.C. §§ 590a-590q. Mead was a farmer-contractor who constructed conservation practices on the farms of his mother (Violet) and the other appellees.

The basic concept of the Agricultural Conservation Program was that the federal government was to assist farmers and ranchers in carrying out approved conservation practices. The Program authorized the government to pay to or for each farmer the lesser of a fixed percentage of the cost price of dirt ditches or dams or a fixed price per unit of work performed (here, price per cubic yard of earth moved). In no event was the payment to exceed a fixed amount for the account of each farmer in a single program year.

The mechanics of the Program allowed government payments to be made directly to the contractor who did the work. Here Mead made out claims for payment with his invoices attached showing “prices” higher than the cash price to the…