IDAHO - Several Idaho potato farms have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture in an effort to rectify damages they say have been sustained from Pale Cyst Nematode (PCN) regulations.

“After exhausting all available avenues to bring about necessary changes to the PCN program, growers were left with no options other than to file suit,” Mickelsen Farms, LLC, one of the plaintiffs, said in a statement, according to the Southeast Idaho Business Journal. “The PCN program and regulations were put in place without proper notice to or input from the appropriate stakeholders.”

Other companies and farms listed on the Plaintiffs list are:

• RIGBY PRODUCE, INC., an Idaho corporation.
• WATTENBARGER FARMS, an Idaho general partnership.
• ADAM and BROOKE NEIBAUR, husband and wife, d/b/a.
• CRIPPLE CREEK FARMS.
• CAROL A. ANDERSON FARMS TRUST.
• MARK ANDERSON, Trustee.
• KORY FRANCE, an individual.
• GERALD OLER, an individual, d/b/a/.
• OLER FARMS.
• BOHEMIAN, LLC, an Idaho limited liability company.
• GERALD and HELEN KELLEY, husband and wife.
• CRAIG V. and ANDREA KELLEY, husband and wife.
• DAN G. and KAREN K. ELDREDGE, husband and wife.
• LAMOND COOK, an individual.

According to the report, all plaintiffs currently have farms that are under quarantine or came to harm as a direct result of APHIS and ISDA regulations. In the claim it is stated that this is not well-founded because while PCN is a potato pest, it allegedly does not pose any threat to human health or “enters the tuber of a potato.”

• As a result of the damages sustained, some of the results the farms filing action are seeking include:
• A declaration that APHIS’s actions violated several Acts and the Tenth Amendment and were arbitrary and capricious.
• A cancellation of the Final Rule, APHIS’s ad hoc protocols, and the Idaho PCN Rules.
• An end to quarantine and regulation of the plaintiffs’ fields.

Due to the litigation process currently underway, the Southeast Idaho Business Journal reported that both departments could not comment on the matter. AndNowUKnow will continue to keep you up to date on this story as it develops further.