Local MAGA firebrand , organic farmer and grocery store owner Alfie Oakes is facing potential seizure of his farms after a lawsuit claims he failed to repay Farm Credit loans totaling millions of dollars.
Oakes, whose full name is Francis A. Oakes, took out two loans totaling about $4.5 million in December 2019 from the Farm Credit of Florida, a Farm Credit Association that offers farm and agricultural financing, according to the 37-page suit filed in Collier County in mid-October.
The suit claims Oakes still owes just less than $2.8 million on the loans after he filed a forbearance agreement in May 2024, saying his company would not repay the loan in full.
Too, it claims Oakes breached the terms of his loans. He and his wife, Deanne Oakes, were named in the suit. He could not be reached for comment Friday.
Farm Credit of Florida’s suit claimed it had the right to seize Oakes’ warehouse and parcels of farmland if he did not pay in full by Aug. 30.
Oakes farms in Arcadia, Immokalee, and Punta Gorda, among other regions. As of mid-October he had about 3,000 acres planted, most in Immokalee, of tomatoes, watermelons, strawberries and green peppers, he told The News-Press / Naples Daily News at the time.