About

Hello, I’m Sarah Vogel, attorney, advocate, and author of The Farmer’s Lawyer, a memoir about my landmark class action lawsuit, Coleman v. Block. I brought this historic case when I was a young lawyer and single mother, against the federal government, on behalf of 240,000 family farmers facing foreclosure during the 1980s farm crisis. I’ve spent most of my career as an advocate for family farmers, women, and Native Americans. I also served two terms as North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture, and I was the first woman in U.S. history to be elected to this position in any state. I currently serve as a Member of the Agriculture Subcommittee to USDA Equity Commission and live in Bismarck, North Dakota.

I am honored to say that since my book came out, it has been longlisted for the Reading the West award, was named as an honoree for The Society of Midland Authors Award, and selected by the Library of Congress to represent North Dakota at the National Book Festival. I have been named a recipient of the 2022 Sioux Award (UND) and received a 2023 Meritorious Service Award, the highest honor presented by the National Farmers Union.

Attorney Advocate

Author & Writer & More!

Attorney Advocate

Author & Writer & More!

Attorney

Four of my major cases are highlighted below:

Coleman v. Block

1983-1989
(Federal court, North Dakota) I served as lead counsel from 1983 to 1985. Coleman stopped 16,000 foreclosures cold-turkey in 1983 and protected 240,000 farmers who had borrowed from the Farmers Home Administration from unconstitutional and illegal collection practices by USDA. The remedies imposed by Judge Bruce M. Van Sickle in the Coleman case were the genesis of permanent federal laws requiring fair appeal processes for most USDA programs. Congress called these protections the “Coleman” provisions and they are still in place today.
Keepseagle v. Vilsack

1999 – 2018
(Federal court, District of Columbia) I was co-counsel on a national class action for a class of many thousands of Native American farmers and ranchers who had suffered decades of credit discrimination from USDA. After years of very difficult litigation involving millions of documents and hundreds of depositions, USDA settled in 2012 for $790 million in damages, and up to $80 million in loan forgiveness. In addition to these monetary damages, USDA agreed to make major reforms in its lending practices with regard to Native American borrowers. The second phase of the lawsuit concerned the use of the leftover (“cy pres”) funds that remained after all claims were paid. The legacy of this case lives on with $36 million in awards to nonprofits helping Native American farmers and ranchers and the creation of the Native American Agriculture Fund.
Bank of North Dakota v. Folmer

1984
(North Dakota Supreme Court) I stopped a foreclosure by the Bank of North Dakota against Russel and Anna Mae Folmer, two of the lead plaintiffs in Coleman v. Block. The Folmers’ defense to the foreclosure lawsuit was that prices of farm products were below the cost of production and thus “confiscatory,” and the court should have paused the foreclosure, based on a never-before-used 1933 North Dakota law. The Supreme Court agreed, and stopped the foreclosure. In subsequent years, the “confiscatory price defense” was used to protect many farms from foreclosure during the 1980s farm crisis.
Wiley v. Glickman

1999
(Federal court, North Dakota) I sued on behalf of thousands of farmers who had purchased crop insurance on their durum wheat crop. After the policies had been issued, USDA sought to renege on coverage by $0.77 a bushel. I argued that USDA could not breach its contract and USDA argued that it could not be sued. The court said USDA’s conduct had to be considered “under basic principles of good faith and fairness” and USDA could not retroactively alter these contracts after they had been signed by both parties. This case started with one farmer complaining of a loss of $0.77, and ended with a payment of $41 million to 8000 farmers in North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota.

Advocate

Nonprofit & Volunteer Work

I have served on many nonprofit and advisory boards including the Northwest Area Foundation, the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Board’s Center for Indian Country, Farmers Legal Action Group, American Agriculture Law Association, Midwestern Association of State Departments of Agriculture (President); and USDA’s Council for Native American Farming and Ranching. I am the current chairperson of Humanities North Dakota. I’m a supporter and member of many organizations working toward agricultural and environmental justice.

Government & Political Work

I also served two terms as North Dakota Commissioner of Agriculture, and I was the first woman in U.S. history to be elected to this position in any state. During this time, I co-founded with Senator Kent Conrad the Marketplace of Ideas, which was then the nation’s largest rural economic development conference. I also reformed the pesticide enforcement program and started Project Safe Send, a free, nonregulatory program to help farmers dispose of banned and hazardous farm chemicals. I expanded the credit counseling service to serve thousands of farmers during the 1980s farm crisis. For more detail about my political work in North Dakota, see Susan E. Wefeld, 1893: “Advocate for Agriculture,” chapter 5 in Important Voices: North Dakota’s Women Elected State Officials Share Their Stories, 1893-2013 (North Dakota State University Press, 2014).

Author & Writer

The Farmer’s Lawyer

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

“The Farmer’s Lawyer, both an exquisitely written American saga and a trove of lived research, might serve as the definitive document of the 1980s farm crisis that in some ways never ended. Sarah Vogel’s heroic battle on behalf of family farmers was historic–and has never been more relevant.”

– Sarah Smarsh, New York Times bestselling author

The Farmer’s Lawyer

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

“The Farmer’s Lawyer, both an exquisitely written American saga and a trove of lived research, might serve as the definitive document of the 1980s farm crisis that in some ways never ended. Sarah Vogel’s heroic battle on behalf of family farmers was historic–and has never been more relevant.”

– Sarah Smarsh, New York Times bestselling author

Learn More

Other Writing

“Measure 1 is about the soul of North Dakota,” op-ed co-written with Willie Nelson Bismarck Tribune (June 9, 2016).

“Advocate for Agriculture,” chapter 5 in Important Voices: North Dakota’s Women Elected State Officials Share Their Stories, 1893-2013 (North Dakota State University Press, 2014).

“The Effects of NAFTA Upon North Dakota State Law,” 70 North Dakota Law Review 485 (1994).

“The Law of Hard Times: Debtor and Farmer Relief Action of the 1933 North Dakota Legislative Session,” 20 North Dakota Law Review 489 (1984).

“Contracts and Credit”, Everywoman’s Legal Guide, B. Burnett, Ed. (Doubleday, 1983).

“Equal Protection for Juvenile Girls in New York State,” New York Law Forum 579 (1971).

Speeches & Honors

Select Agriculture Law Speeches

“The Law of Hard Times: What Lawyers and Policymakers in 2019 Can Learn from the Farm Crisis of the 1980s,” 40th Anniversary of American Agriculture Law Association, Washington, D.C., Nov. 2019.

“Rural Enterprise and Empowerment: A state Perspective on Rural Development, American Agriculture Law Association, Memphis, October 1994.

“New Approaches by Government,” Farmers Legal Crisis, Hybrid Solutions for the mid-1980s, American Bar Association, New York City, August 1986.

“Keeping North Dakota Farmers on the Farm,” State Bar Association of North Dakota, 1985.

“State Responses to Agricultural Credit Depression–in 1933 and Today,” National Governors Association, Chicago, IL, 1986.

Select Honors & Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award, North Dakota Democratic Nonpartisan League Party, 2015

Recognition by Willie Nelson at the 30th anniversary of Farm Aid, 2015

Arc of Justice Award, North Dakota Human Rights Coalition, 2012

Finalist, Trial Lawyer of the Year, Public Justice Foundation, 2011

Distinguished Service Award, American Agriculture Law Association, 2006

Selected as one of 20 Young Attorneys Whose Work Makes a Difference, Barrister Magazine, American Bar Association (“When Sarah Vogel Got Mad … 240,000 Farmers Went to Court”), 1986

About

Attorney

Coleman v. Block

Keepseagle v. Vilsack

Bank of North Dakota v. Folmer

Wiley v. Glickman

Advocate

Nonprofit & Volunteer Work

Government & Political Work

Author & Writer

The Farmer’s Lawyer

Other Writing

Speeches & Honors

Select Agriculture Law Speeches

Select Honors & Awards