The Farmer's Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm

by Sarah Vogel

The unforgettable true story of a young lawyer's impossible legal battle to stop the federal government from foreclosing on thousands of family farmers.

In the early 1980s, farmers were suffering through the worst economic crisis to hit rural America since the Great Depression. Land prices were down, operating costs and interest rates were up, and severe weather devastated crops. Instead of receiving assistance from the government as they had in the 1930s, these hardworking family farmers were threatened with foreclosure by the very agency that Franklin Delano Roosevelt created to help them.

Desperate, they called Sarah Vogel in North Dakota. Sarah, a young lawyer and single mother, listened to farmers who were on the verge of losing everything and, inspired by the politicians who had helped farmers in the '30s, she naively built a solo practice of clients who couldn't afford to pay her. Sarah began drowning in debt and soon her own home was facing foreclosure. In a David and Goliath legal battle reminiscent of A Civil Action or Erin Brockovich, Sarah brought a national class action lawsuit, which pitted her against the Reagan administration's Department of Justice, in her fight for family farmers' Constitutional rights. It was her first case.

A courageous American story about justice and holding the powerful to account, The Farmer's Lawyer shows how the farm economy we all depend on for our daily bread almost fell apart due to the willful neglect of those charged to protect it, and what we can learn from Sarah's battle as a similar calamity looms large on our horizon once again.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Agriculture, Law, Book Club, Social Justice, Autobiography

432 pages, Hardcover

Published November 2, 2021

About the author

Sarah Vogel is the first woman elected Commissioner of Agriculture and one of the foremost agriculture lawyers in the United States. The American Agricultural Law Association awarded her its Distinguished Service Award, and Willie Nelson honored Sarah at Farm Aid’s 30th anniversary for her longtime service to family farmers. Hailed as “a giant killer in ag law” by The Nation, Sarah served for decades as co-counsel on the Keepseagle case filed to redress USDA’s race discrimination in lending to Native American ranchers and farmers. An in-demand speaker and a passionate advocate for farmers and Native Americans, Sarah lives in Bismarck, North Dakota.

Reviews

[Zoey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim- I am from North Dakota and had never heard of this case before, so I thought it might be interesting. I was a little concerned that it would be a boring recount of the case, full of legal jargon that I didn't understand. This book surpassed all expectations and left me with an intense desire to do something inspiring with my life (or at least shop at the local food co-op more regularly). Sarah wove this lifechanging case as a story full of humpr and heartbreak. You could feel exactly what she was feeling as she recounted her relationships with the farmers, the slimey FMHA advisors, and I even felt my heart pound with nerves as she stepped into the courtroom for the first time. She broke down the historical context and lawyer speak to a level I could easily understand, which is saying a lot, as all I know about the court system comes from Judge Judy. This book changed my perspective on not only our local farmers, but on what someone is capable of with passion and hardwork. I recommended this book to a friend currently in law school, who then shared it with all of her ag law classmates. They all loved it too!

Thank you, Sarah, for sharing the story of you and the small family farmers during the 1980s farm crisis. If anyone reading this is on the fence, just give it a shot. It could open your eyes.

[HP · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well written account of Sarah Vogel's battle to protect mid-sized farms and farmers from the Farmer's Home Administration. The narration of this David and Goliath style battle pays close attention to the minutiae of the law and the variance of its interpretation, as well as how ever present issues in America such as racism and classicism can affect some of its most important inhabitants. Agriculture in America often unfortunately seems like a black box of unknowns-we take for granted our ready made and immediate access to food, and this book gives names and faces to the citizens who's hard work sustains our society while detailing the difficulties they face in simply surviving.

[Margaret Carmel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're at all interested in rural issues, this needs to be on your list.

The Farmer's Lawyer is an Erin Brockovich0-style story of Sarah Vogel, a laid-off federal lawyer at the beginning of the Reagan Administration who ends up defending broke farmers against the Farmers Home Administration's predatory and unforgiving policies that kept foreclosing on them over and over. She starts small and collects clients by word of mouth, but she eventually spirals the suit into a class action suit both for all of North Dakota's farmers and eventually on behalf of farmers across the country. It's a David and Goliath type of legal thriller, full of ups and downs, Vogel's financial troubles, regulations flouted and a growing movement nationwide to protect the country's agricultural backbone against a fiscal conservative backed USDA determined to leave their roots behind.

I knew basically nothing going into this book about the 80s farm crisis and it's link to Reagan administration policy, as well as any of the history of US agricultural policy that arose from the Great Depression. This book is a great primer on all things history of agriculture and the legal issues at play in these complicated, bureaucratic cases. She also writes vividly about her own experience as a broke lawyer/single mother herself, her love for oft-forgotten North Dakota and the tendrils of extremism that crept into agriculture at this time. So much of this is reminiscent of the anger and frustration we see now, while most of the country has no idea that so many farmer's are struggling to keep making ends meet and the disastrous consequences that can come from feeling forgotten.

The time is always right to do what is right. I feel genuinely inspired by this story.

[Colin · Rating 3 out of 5]

First off: this book is a fantastic David v. Goliath tale; it'll have you keep turning the page no matter how dry the legal jargon sometimes seems!

Second: this is not an unbiased tale. This is a bare-faced first person, 'I am right and the other side is wrong' story. Expect lots of incensed internal raging at unfairness and specific attention paid to how neutral parties skewer the opponents of the author.
That said, from someone who shares the author's viewpoint, I was similarly pissed off at the same things they were.)

Third: the prose is...not great. As usual for these, "I am fighting a behemoth" stories, there is a personal 'I am also always struggling" story. But no matter how many times the author reflects on how her child sometimes feels neglected or that she has to smoke a cigarette to cope, they have no seeming bearing on Vogel's life or the legal story writ large, so why include them?

Finally AND MOST IMPORTANTLY:
If you weren't aware that the average age of the American farmer is already past 65, then the lack of young farmers following in their footsteps shouldn't surprise you; but more importantly for this story, you probably aren't aware of how much the "average American farmer" is struggling incredibly hard to stay afloat. They produce the majority of our food, but often have to take secondary jobs as bus drivers.

[Emily Saeugling · Rating 5 out of 5]

*sobs during epilogue and postscript*

thoughts:
-always heard about the 80s farm crisis but this book helped me better understand what was going on during that time
-Vogel is a badass - single mom, national class action lawsuit, and spoke up for female (and other minority) farmers
-I love ag policy & ag history thus I loved this book

[William Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those classic real-life legal thrillers that gives you hope and inspiration. Amazing story, rivetingly and humbly told by its protagonist. And in the farm crisis of the 1980s, a story that I was shocked to know so little about and feel better for having learned.

A strong recommend for public interest attorneys, armchair historians, or anyone who loves it when the little guy kicks the big, bad government’s ass.

[Douglas Imperi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight into the struggles farmers have faced. I admired the author’s passion for her clients and justice. It was an easy read, despite being history heavy.

[James Hallmark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This should be a movie. Think “Erin Brockovich.” It has all the elements of a great movie: poor folks being mistreated by bad government policy and personnel, a single mother lawyer crusading for the little guy and eventually winning. And it is a true story. Vogel was the plaintiffs’ lawyer. The case was Coleman vs. Block (Block was the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, although the primary villain was David Stockman of the Office of Management and Budget, as it was his plan). The “Farmers Home Administration” in the U.S. Department of Agriculture is the offending entity. Now, I only know one side of the story, and it seems almost too crazy to believe. But Vogel won in court and the Dept of Ag threw in the towel afterward and stopped what they were doing. So, I’m going to say it is more true than not. Apparently “we” (our government) abandoned their own rules (and basic due process), pushed multi-generational farmers off their land, and denied the right to appeal. Go back in your memory to the farm crisis of the ‘80s—Willie Nelson, Farm Aide, etc. The government had a long standing program (presumably still do) where they loaned money to farmers. However, under Block and Stockman, Farm Home Administration agents gave seemingly absurd advice to farmers that by the terms of the loan the farmers were compelled to follow under criminal penalty. For example, in one instance the agents didn’t know the difference between a bull, a steer, and a dairy cow and required the farmers to take actions that would decimate their herd…yet they were compelled to do it and had no recourse. There were dozens of other examples that basically fit into the category of “selling your seed corn.” To make it worse, Farmers Home Administration added what they called “acceleration,” such that if you had a years long history of paying your bills but were late with a single payment Farmers Home Administration had the right—and apparently used that right—to call the loan and liquidate the farm without notice or appeal. Apparently this was all legal except the lack of an appeal, and in fact the Dept of Ag aggressively denied that appeals were allowed (even though their own printed rules specified they were). Vogel—a young and inexperienced lawyer in North Dakota—managed to qualify the plaintiffs as a national class action and won, bringing relief to about 250,000 farmers across the country, although who knows how many had already lost their land. It is a highly compelling story told very well. It is also a “COVID” book. During COVID Vogel got her files out of storage and wrote the book……I started this review by saying it should be a movie. It sort of was, but the legal story was not part of the movie. Vogel’s college roommate was the sister of Academy Award winning actress Jessica Lange. Lange followed the story through her sister and produced the 1984 movie “Country” staring Lange and her husband, Sam Shepard. Lange received an Academy Award nomination for her performance in it. Country told the story from the farmer’s viewpoint, not the legal story that Vogel tells in this book. Vogel’s story should be a movie. It would be a good one.

[Keedy Tonn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have found another fantastic non-fiction story that doesn’t bore you to death with facts and dates! This story is an amazing recollection of the difficult farming crisis in the 1980s. This book highlights the importance of the American middle sized farmers and how they were unfairly treated by the US government. And better yet, a WOMAN spear headed this incredible task of brining the farmers justice. I am so thankful that Sarah Vogel put her story together to share with the world. Totally worth the read!!

[Chad Nabity · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an incredible story. I can see why John Grisham liked it. The true story of farmers fighting FmHA during the farm crisis of the 1980's and the court cases of that fight told by the lead attorney for the Coleman case in North Dakota.

[Jessica Wheeler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rarely do I give 5 stars…but this tale reignited my passion for supporting a just agricultural system from a perspective I hadn’t considered. The histories of the Nonpartisan League are alive in this one. A sincere thank you to Sarah Vogel and the rest of the players for supporting and believing in American agriculture and sharing this tale

[Carol Fordahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This true account makes me proud to be a North Dakotan and a Democrat. When Ronald Reagan became President his OMB director, David Stockman, began a process of weaning farmers from getting “welfare,” through loans at FmHA in the horrible ‘80s. The administration promoted systematic foreclosures of producers beset by drought, poor prices and a poor economy. They felt farmers were bilking the government in a social welfare way by getting low interest loans and being unable to make scheduled payments on their debt. Sarah Vogel sued Stockman, John Block and the government in a national class action suit and won. Tightwad Republicans should read this to find their heart again and see what it’s really like to fight for the poor, rather than always the rich. Yay North Dakota. Yay Sarah Vogel. Yay bleeding heart liberals. Ronald Reagan was not rural America’s friend, nor was he ever sympathetic of farmer’s plight.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reads like a novel. Captures growing up in the 50's-60's (my era), all of the layers of complexity of agricultural economics, farming, community - within government agencies and programs used for political gain. Growing up in North Dakota, I am reminded of stories imbedded in the courage and heroism of following a moral compass - much, sadly, which has been lost in today's politics. As the David in this epic David and Goliath class action suit, I admire Sarah Vogel's naivete and scrappiness - a struggling, destitute single mom with compassion for her plaintiffs. She sought and humbly accepted help, and included in the the lawsuit plaintiffs who carried the breadth of humanity - Native Americans. and wives as named plaintiffs, adding to the bedrock of those who tend the earth for our benefit.

[Linda K. Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating story of how one person can create change

This is not the typical book I read, but is one I will never forget. The adversity, road blocks a just mean people tried to stop Sarah Vogel to help the farmers who were being mistreated by a Government agency. There were times I wanted it to be fiction, because I couldn't believe how farmers were forced out of their farms. I feel proud to have read this story for changes that occurred because of her work. A great lesson for the kids of the future generation's.

[Michelle Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was the teenaged daughter of a North Dakota farmer during the crisis period in agriculture described in this gem of a book. Talk of foreclosures and farmer suicides was all around me, but (being a typical teenager) I never bothered to question the larger economic and political forces at play. I learned so much about that time period, and about the longer history of the farm labor movement, through Sarah Vogel’s firsthand account.

[Oliver Sime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written memoir. Serves as a great summary of twentieth century ND history, covering the NPL, the Pick-Sloan dams, Gordan Kahl, and of course the 1980s farm crisis.

[Thomas Isern · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reviewed this work in the weekly feature, Plains Folk. Sarah tells the story well, and it moves us to consider the place of agrarian values in prairie culture today.

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first non-babysitting job was detasseling corn for a seed company in Fargo. My mom's dad had been a farmer in South Dakota; the cousin who now farms that land is doing pretty well. The first year I was a high school debater, we debated on the topic of farmer's receiving a certain percent parity for their crops. (I wish I remembered what I knew as a sophomore.) Most importantly, I consider myself to be "from" North Dakota, even though I lived there full time only 7 years, then returned for a couple of summers during college, then returned again to teach in Dickinson for one year while my spouse was in Viet Nam. My connection to North Dakota and farming is a strong thread in my life.
Sarah Vogel inspired me with her truth-telling in this wonderful account of how she fought the Farm Home Administration as that agency, under the direction of David Stockman, attempted to curtail costs by forcing farmers off their farms by foreclosing on debts for money the agency itself had lent. I use the term truth-telling because Sarah Vogel was a naive, novice lawyer who spares no detail in allowing her reader into the whirlwind of the stumbling, fumbling career she begins in North Dakota after leaving a good job in DC. The end of her marriage, her financial difficulties, her attempt to live in a small house in in alley with no insulation: these details pale in comparison to her description of the agony her father, a respected lawyer in Grand Forks, endured while watching her performance in the trial in which she was the prosecutor and the Farm Home Administration was the defendant.
Vogel gives a thorough summation of the history of farming in North Dakota; I'll admit that I skimmed a few pages. She shares the stories of the North Dakota Nine, and I found myself hating David Stockman and cheering for these brave folks. Then, the trial: spellbinding. I couldn't put the book down.
An aside: my favorite part:
"The phone rang with a call from my mother's older brother, Cal, in Minnesota. My mother's Monk siblings almost never called or visited. Their rare communications were by round-robin letters. One sibling would write a letter to another who would add news of his or her family and send both letters to another, who would forward again until all six were in the loop, and after the letters had circulated to all the siblings (which might take a year), a anew round-robin would start. My mother held the receiver out so we could all hear.
"Elsa, this is Cal. I just read a front page story about farm foreclosures and it says that there is a Sarah Vogle from Grand Forks who is fighting farm foreclosures. Is that Sally?"
"Yes!" my mother proudly answered.
"I'm glad. Okay now. Merry Christmas."
"Okay, Cal. Merry Christmas."
I guess you have to have lived a while in North Dakota to tear up as I did at Cal's "Okay now."
Anyway, thank you, Sarah Vogel.

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[Christine Quinlan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads live a novel, and yet this history is essential reading. Just out of high school in eastern Colorado, I lived through the 1980s farm crisis when my family had to auction all equipment and cattle, but managed to hang onto our land (and still have it). Neighbors I knew and grew up with from Washington County, CO drove their tractors to D.C. for the farm movement protests. As a young woman eager to leave my agricultural upbringing, this book showed me how blind I had been to the national economic and political forces that surrounded my family's situation, not to mention the broader history of the farm movement post-Depression to present. My family was right in the middle of it, and I'd never paused to appreciate this important history.
The author, Sarah Vogel is admirable and inspiring--she is vulnerable, naive, a novice fighting for a cause and prevailing fueled by personal courage, compassion, tenacity, and a dose of help at just the right times from her parents with generational ties to North Dakota and to the Nonpartisan League, a fascinating chapter in history in itself. The character of the North Dakota judge who decided the case also played prominently.
There are important parallels to today's rural and agricultural economics, and what we have to learn from this history if we can only pay attention. The post-Depression New Deal economic concept of parity in farm pricing is worth studying.
Reagononomics were no friend to rural America, and yet not unlike today rural populations often favor politicians who have no solutions or relief to offer them.

[Michelle Glogovac · Rating 5 out of 5]

I truly believe this book should be required reading not only for every law student, but for every American. There is so much history around family farmers, our government, and Native Americans that is not widely known information and yet it should be. I was blown away by the courage that the family farmers and Sarah Vogel had to fight for their rights and the rights of so many others.

Sarah takes you on the journey of her career that started with fighting for equal credit rights for women and minorities and then moved on to fighting for family farmers who were being treated unfairly and illegally by the USDA and FmHA on their loans. It's a beautiful story of people who were helping other people in the hopes that they wouldn't have to endure what they did.

I'm so grateful to Sarah for writing this book, but also for having the passion and compassion to fight for so many, even when it meant she and her son would have to go without.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This compelling story The Farmer's Lawyer: The North Dakota Nine and the Fight to Save the Family Farm meant a lot to me as a farmer and as a new lawyer. Sarah Vogel's commitment to her clients was extraordinary and should inspire any attorney. In addition, her thorough documentation and insightful explanation of the 1980s farm crisis are instructive for anyone with ties to US agriculture, then or now. Yet another reason to read this book lies in the author's memorable depiction of the Garrison Dam project and its impacts. How can it be that I never learned about this in school?

[Glenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I'm totally biased on this. Why? I grew up on an ND farm. I lived in ND during the farm crisis. Knew farmers who struggled during the farm crisis. Some lost their farms, they were expecting to leave them to sons and daughters my age. Heard the stories of how farmers were encouraged to go deeper into debt initially so it made their situation seem more possible for long term survival. I watched this struggle progress. And I had met and/or knew some of the people (or their children) involved . But with all that said, the book helped me put things into a time frame and a perspective. It outlined the struggles. Yes, the news carried some of the story but there was a great deal I never knew about the case. Can only thank the team for what they did.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book on the suggestion of a Farm Aid supporter, not expecting much. But this kept me up for three nights, reading. It's a legal thriller. Despite knowing the outcome in advance, I found myself on a roller coaster of emotions. I cheered for Sarah, her gumption, her cast of supporters and the unsung heroes. It flows well and knows how to keep the reader engaged.

The story did make me rethink some of my previous opinions about the farmers in the 1980's farm crisis, now having more context. Isn't that what books are supposed to do? Make you think?

N.B. I started with the large print edition but it was too tiring to hold in my hands. Switching to the hard back edition was a more enjoyable experience.

[Vaishnavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sarah is evidently a tenacious lawyer with determination of steel, but she's also a great writer. I enjoyed reading the details that gave this legal story so much heart, like her "conversations" with the books at the law library or the scent of cottonwood trees at her Bismarck home. I especially liked the passage about her party's drive down a lone North Dakota highway at night when they listened, spellbound, to the distant Native American celebration.

The Coleman case taught me that the law exists foremost to protect people. Sarah believed in her case and the rights of the farmers she fought for so strongly that she pushed forward even when her path was *so* unclear given the other things happening in her life.

To represent the North Dakota Nine and everyone *they* represented...that's one truly great vocation.

[Andrew Figueiredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vogel recounts not just her own fight to save family farms during the 1980s farm crisis but the longer story of prairie populism in North Dakota. Her writing kept me turning pages and she did a great job boiling down legal concepts to readers. It was an especially engrossing read as somebody who works in law, but anybody would be able to access the thrill of Vogel’s legal battles by reading this book. I really appreciate how rooted in history her story is. This book showcases the best of the North Dakota NPL tradition, the one that is willing to take on both big corporations and big government when they hurt the little guy.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had the pleasure of meeting the author briefly earlier this year. She is very cool!

The book itself is quite a zippy legal page-turner about how a young lawyer returns back home to North Dakota, and ends up bringing a massive class action lawsuit against the Reagan administration on behalf of thousands of farmers. The suit challenged the tactics the admin used to push farmers off their land during the farm crisis in the late 1970s/early 1980s. (I was reminded very strongly of DOGE, when learning what Reagan's budget director, David Stockman, was up to.) It's also a great portrait of North Dakota and rural farm communities in general.

[Raja · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sucker for a good plaintiff's lawyer tale, especially when I understand the precedents behind her innovative theory of the case, although it was a little hard to believe she had to prepare for a merits trial at the last minute and that became the stipulated record of the entire class! I also appreciated her candor about how much help and support she got over the course of this case from her Dad or by trading on his name and good reputation in the state, and chuckled over the pre-internet clunkiness of such large-scale litigation.

[Janell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book brought up many memories about my own parents and their loss of their farm. I grew up in Minnesota and although my parents didn’t share what was really going on during that time I now wonder if this government agency was involved in their money problems too. We were fortunate that by some miracle my brother was able to buy our farm. I didn’t have much sympathy for my parents during this time as I thought my dad was just a bad manager but I might have been too young and naive to truly understand what was go on and how sad he was to lose the farm that belonged to his father.

[Barbara Q · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this book was too long. The topic and events are important and I found it tedious at times. But I will continue to think about farmers and farming in the US. As with so many issues, this one is also fraught with how much (or how little) financial aid can be expected from the federal government? Are the ongoing woes of modern farmers a direct result of capitalism? Climate changes? Use of too many herbicides and pesticides? Water availability? Is the possibility of financial instability now part of every farmer’s life?