You won't believe what the government is using to fine this farmer millions

John Duarte, a Northern California wheat farmer, is fighting a United States government fine of $2.8 million for plowing his own field within the scope of environmental law. Mike Slater talked to Duarte on "The Mike Slater Show" this weekend.

The farmer bought 450 acres which are spattered with pools of dry grass land. When it rains, water pools and puddles within them. When they get wet, they sometimes develop fairy shrimp, known to many as sea monkeys.

They survive as dry little eggs for years, but when water comes, they hatch and live a few weeks. When the water dries up, the eggs of the next generation wait for water. The federal government said that plowing the farm kills the sea monkeys.

Duarte does not plow deep enough to affect fairy shrimp eggs. He said 12 government experts were out in his field for two weeks digging 20 excavations and determined all the tilling he does is 4-7" deep, which is not deep enough to hurt them.

A Department of Justice report showed that all vernal pools are exactly where they were earlier, proving that the wheat farm has not disturbed them.

The government has to prove the farm is in wetlands, that Duarte's farming practices destroyed them, and that he was not following normal farming practices. The initial complaint cited normal farming practices from 1914, he said, which might be how they justified bringing the suit in the first place.

See more from Mike on TheBlaze Contributors channel and listen to "The Mike Slater Show" live every Saturday from 3-6 p.m. ET, only on TheBlaze Radio Network.