In a recent “RFK Jr Podcast” episode, attorney Dustin Kittle alleged the Farm Credit System, created to protect small farmers, now primarily serves corporate agriculture. Kittle claimed systemic corruption is forcing family farms off their land and concentrating control of the food supply.
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By John-Michael Dumais
The Farm Credit System (FCS), created nearly a century ago to save the family farm, now primarily serves corporate agriculture interests — even forcing small farmers off their land.
Attorney Dustin Kittle, a former cattle and poultry farmer turned agricultural law specialist, sounded the alarm on a recent “RFK Jr Podcast” episode, describing systemic corruption within FCS and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Kittle told Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Children’s Health Defense chairman on leave, about a web of alleged misconduct, conflicts of interest and policy shifts that he claimed are decimating America’s family farms while enriching corporate agricultural giants and foreign investors.
Kittle’s crusade against these practices stems from personal experience. Raised on a farm in Geraldine, Alabama, he later found himself embroiled in a legal battle with the very system designed to protect farmers like himself.
The Farm Credit Administration (FCA), a federal agency charged with overseeing the FCS, took 657 days to investigate his case. After nearly two years, it concluded that while federal laws had been violated, it could offer no remedy as he was no longer a borrower in the system.
Kittle’s firm represents about 200 farmers facing similar challenges. “Those farmers … even though they can speak to me as their lawyer … are scared to death,” he told Kennedy.
Big Ag getting ‘billion-dollar loans’
FCS was established in 1933 during the Great Depression to support America’s farmers, but it has strayed far from its original mission, according to Kittle.
Kittle alleged that FCS made a “complete shift” around 2009, changing its mission from saving family farms to saving the agriculture industry as a whole.
The FCS began prioritizing large corporations over small farmers, “doling out loans to JBS [Foods]” and Tyson, he pointed out. “We are not talking about $100,000 lines of credit. We are talking about billion-dollar loans to those companies.”
Kittle contended that these policy changes also opened the door to foreign interests.
“I wouldn’t have even thought that U.S. Farm Credit, a government-sponsored enterprise, could do business dealings and … loans with foreign interests,” he said, noting that this practice began in 1997 “when they adjusted some loopholes.”
‘A manipulated plan to take that land’
As further evidence of farm credit policy failures, Kittle pointed to the 5 million family farms lost since FCS was created. “We are down to 1.8 million family farms,” he said.
Loan distress declarations are a prime example of how the system now serves corporate agricultural interests, Kittle said. The practice involves declaring loans in distress even when farmers are current on their payments.
The result is often devastating for small farmers who suddenly find themselves facing foreclosure and legal battles against “some of the biggest law firms in the nation,” which they’re ill-equipped to fight.
“You might have a default provision in your mortgage that says, ‘If someone whose name is on that deed passes away, we can default on them,’” Kittle explained, illustrating the often arbitrary nature of these declarations.
“It was part of a manipulated plan to put pressure on the farmers to take that land,” Kittle told Kennedy.
Kennedy agreed that forcing farmers to hire lawyers is essentially “stealing family farms from the farmer using our federal dollars.”
Kittle said his loan was placed in distress in retaliation for representing a group of farmer-borrowers.
‘Zero oversight all the way to the top’
Kittle’s allegations extend beyond individual cases to what he described as systemic failures in oversight. “There is zero oversight all the way to the top” of FCS.
He pointed to structural issues within the FCA, where only one member serves on the board instead of the legally required three.
Kittle sued President Joe Biden, the FCA and others over this lapse.
He also criticized the political maneuvering that he believes contributes to this lack of oversight, citing an instance involving a nominee for the FCA board who was blocked from confirmation for two years.
Kittle pointed to conflict-of-interest issues. He alleged that Dallas Tonsager, who served as undersecretary at the USDA and as chairman of FCA, had business ties to Redfield Energy, a company involved in carbon capture technology for ethanol plants.
This resistance to outside oversight, Kittle argued, is symptomatic of a larger problem.
“We have an entity that was set up for the farmers, but we have created a lobbying branch that is going in and lobbying against the interests of the farmers,” he stated, referring to the Farm Credit Council‘s lobbying activities.
‘Running it as a private bank’
Kittle unveiled a disturbing practice within FCS that he argues amounts to an unauthorized and unregulated banking operation. The scandal, as Kittle described it, centers on loan assignment agreements.
FCA institutions require borrowers, particularly poultry farmers, to divert a significant portion of their income — sometimes up to 65% — into holding accounts as additional security for loans. However, these loans are already secured by the farmers’ land and are often backed by government guarantees.
“What happened in the state of Alabama, this is a tragedy that should be on the front page of every newspaper,” Kittle asserted. He revealed that over 1,000 poultry borrowers at Alabama Farm Credit had their funds, estimated between $60 and $100 million, effectively vanish from these holding accounts.
When questioned about the missing funds, Alabama Farm Credit reportedly told farmers the money would be applied to the end of their loans. However, farmers are still required to make regular payments, essentially paying twice.
“They’re running it as a private bank, but getting the benefits of government protection,” Kittle charged.
‘The last bastion of American independence’
Throughout the interview, Kittle emphasized the broader implications of these issues.
“Family farms is really the last bastion of American independence,” he declared, arguing that the loss of family farms threatens not just agriculture and the environment, but American democracy itself.
“Corporate agriculture has got them,” he said of organizations like the Farm Bureau. It “has our government and we’ve got to do something to break that hold.”
Kittle called for a “national voice” to advocate for family farms and a return to “growing quality food as opposed to quantities of food.”
The attorney invited supporters to join his “Save Our Farms” campaign on X (formerly Twitter).
The Defender on occasion posts content related to Children’s Health Defense’s nonprofit mission that features Mr. Kennedy’s views on the issues CHD and The Defender regularly cover. In keeping with Federal Election Commission rules, this content does not represent an endorsement of Mr. Kennedy, who is on leave from CHD and is running as an independent for president of the U.S.
John-Michael Dumais is a news editor for The Defender. He has been a writer and community organizer on a variety of issues, including the death penalty, war, health freedom and all things related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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