Some bad news coming out of Virginia could affect peanut farmers here in our area. A federal appeals court threw out a 30 million dollar judgment for peanut farmers in seven states.

The lawsuit involves almost 39-hundred farmers here in Florida, as well as Alabama, Georgia, North & South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

The farmers sued the government in a dispute over crop insurance payments. They claimed the federal crop insurance program should have paid them 31 cents a pound for peanut crops lost in the 2002 drought.

But federal officials slashed the payments by nearly half. So the farmers sued.

Thursday the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the feds. The appeals court based the ruling under the 2002 Farm Bill that eliminated the peanut quota system.

The justices say the farmers are only entitled to about 18 cents a pound. The farmers attorney says he'll appeal again.