The U.S. Agriculture Department must reinstate an Augusta farm family's claim for planting subsidies because the land in question was contaminated with sewage sludge, a federal judge concluded this week.

The R.A. McElmurray & Sons farm applied in 2003 for federal "prevented planting" credits for 1,466 acres of cotton and 264 acres of corn it contended could not be planted because their land had been contaminated.

Though the 2002 Farm Bill program was designed to offer credits for crops prevented by "drought, flood or natural disasters," the McElmurrays cited criteria that included "other conditions beyond the control of the producers" and listed the cause of their claim as "environmental contamination."

Though a state screening committee approved the request, it was overruled in March 2004 by the Agriculture Department, which led the family to file a civil lawsuit against the agency.

In a 45-page ruling filed this week, U.S. Judge Anthony Alaimo found there was sufficient evidence to show the land was contaminated and that USDA officials didn't evaluate the available evidence.

The McElmurray and Boyce families -- dairy farmers in south Augusta and Burke County -- initially sued the city of Augusta in 1998.

They contended that sludge from the Messerly Wastewater Plant that the city offered as free fertilizer contained dangerous amounts of heavy metals that poisoned their land and cattle.

The Boyce family's lawsuit was filed in Richmond County Superior Court, and a jury awarded the family $550,000 in 2003. The family had asked for $12.5 million.

The McElmurray case was settled in September, when insurance companies agreed to pay $1.3 million for the cost of defending the city in the Boyce lawsuit and pay the McElmurray family $1.5 million to settle their case, according to reports in The Augusta Chronicle .