Buxton man sentenced for crop insurance violation

Darren Wade Tronson, 59, was involved in three civil cases and one criminal case relating to his potato farming operation, according to a press release from the North Dakota district of the U.S. Attorney's Office.

With the cases resolved, Tronson will forego a 2019 $272,365 crop insurance indemnity payment, pay $10,000 in restitution for his 2017 and 2018 settled potato claims and be prohibited from participating in any federal programs for the next decade.

From 2017 to 2019, Tronson planted potatoes in Grand Forks and Traill counties. He purchased yield-based multi-peril crop insurance policies for the potatoes through his insurer, the release said.

Each year, Tronson claimed significant losses due to alleged adverse weather events, the release said.

In early 2019, Tronson's crop insurance provider stressed the need for his client "to use agricultural experts and a soil fertility plan as part of general good farming practices to qualify for the payment for any losses under a federal crop insurance policy."

However, Tronson failed to follow through with the recommendations — instead attempting to conceal the actual reason for his crop loss in 2019. This resulted in his criminal case, the release said.

Tronson made a loss claim for his 2019 potato crop based on precipitation alone, and willfully failed to notify his insurer he did not follow through with the soil fertility recommendations, according to the release. The insurer denied more than half of Tronson's 2019 claim.

The first civil case came about when Tronson — on behalf of his company, DL Farms, LLC — sued the U.S. in an attempt to recover the 2019 indemnities that had been withheld from him.

A judge ruled in favor of the U.S. and, as a result, Tronson had to forgo the aforementioned $272,365 crop insurance indemnity payment.

The second civil case was based on Tronson's failure to use effective farming practices in 2017 and 2018, which were years that his insurer paid all his potato claims, "despite evidence the weather was not the actual cause of his losses," the release said.

The U.S. argued in a civil complaint that Tronson lied about what caused his losses. The parties reached an agreement, and the lawsuit was dismissed in exchange for Tronson's aforementioned $10,000 payment and voluntary exclusion from all federal programs for the next ten years.

"The United States Department of Agriculture, Risk Management Agency (RMA), through its private partnerships serve a vital role in serving the needs of farmers following a disaster," said Robert J. Springer, acting special agent in charge of USDA-OIG. "Fraudulent activity and failure to follow good farming practices undermines this program and misdirects taxpayer funds from the purposes they were intended."

The fourth case was Tronson's challenge to suspension from participation in federal programs. It was dismissed shortly after it was filed, the release said.

The suspension became effective Jan. 1, 2023.

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