Ruling goes against farmers in Georgia and other states

A 30-million dollar judgment in favor of peanut farmers in Georgia and six other states has been thrown out by a federal appeals court in Virginia. The lawsuit involving 38-hundred farmers dealt with a dispute over crop insurance payments. The three-judge panel Thursday sided with federal officials who had cut those payments by nearly half--it said under the 2002 Farm Bill farmers would only entitled to get around 18 cents a pound. Farmers claim the insurance program should cover 31 cents a pound for crops lost in the ’02 drought. An attorney for the farmers plans to appeal.