M & T Farms v. Federal Crop Insurance Corporation

BACKGROUND

M&T Farms is a California general partnership between two farmers, Paul Missou and Gary Tognetti. M&T Farms and a third farmer, Ed Tognetti, sell farm commodities through a storefront, B&T Farms, which owns their business name and goodwill. B&T Farms is also a California general partnership, in which two partners, M&T Farms and Ed Tognetti, hold 65% and 35% interests, respectively. M&T Farms purchased crop insurance for the 2017 crop year under the Whole-Farm Revenue Protection Pilot Policy (“WFRP Policy”) from Producers Agriculture Insurance Company (“ProAg”), an insurer approved and reinsured by the FCIC. M&T Farms later filed a claim seeking the full policy amount, $1,991,876. In January 2019, ProAg

1 The FCIC is a government corporation within the Department of Agriculture created “[t]o carry out the purposes” of the Federal Crop Insurance Act (“FCIA”). 7 U.S.C. § 1503; 31 U.S.C. § 9101(3)(D). The Risk Management Agency (“RMA”) supervises the FCIC and administers FCIA programs. 7 U.S.C. § 6933(a), (b)(1)–(3). “For all relevant and practical purposes, the RMA and the FCIC are one and the same.” William J. Mouren Farming, Inc. v. Great Am. Ins. Co., No. 05- cv-0031,…