9-30 IAN Potato Cartel

 Idaho’s potato industry is acting like a cartel according to some lawyers. Those are pretty inflammatory words aren’t they…CARTEL? I’m David Sparks and I’ll be right back with details. According to a University of Idaho study, the potato industry in this state is responsible directly and indirectly for roughly 39,000 jobs, $6.7 billion in sales and $1.3 billion in wages. Stated differently, that ain’t small potatoes, Idaho has a huge financial stake in spud production and a bunch of New York lawyers are going after us. According to Sean Ellis of Journalnet.com, The first lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Pocatello June 18 by Brigiotta’s Farmland Produce and Garden Center, a produce wholesaler from New York. The action was brought on behalf of all direct purchasers of fresh and processed potatoes from the defendants and asks for them to be awarded triple their damages.

    The second, so-called copycat lawsuit was filed in federal court in Los Angeles by Todd Simon and it is also class-action.

The Idaho Farm Bureau’s John Thompson is a former communications director for Potato Growers of Idaho: “I’d be very surprised if the lawsuits went anywhere because the Capper-Volstead Act protects agricultural cooperatives.”