Globodera pallida, Idaho: Growers file lawsuit against USDA

Published on March 21, 2016 11:38AM

Pale cyst nematode: Globodera pallida.  Photo courtesy USDA   Pale cyst nematodes infect a potato plant. A federal judge has refused the USDA’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Idaho potato farmers against restrictions related to the pale cyst nematode

A federal judge has refused the USDA’s request to dismiss a lawsuit brought by Idaho potato farmers against restrictions related to the pale cyst nematode.

The U.S. wasn’t known to harbor the nematode, which can reduce potato yields by up to 80 percent, until the pest was first discovered in eastern Idaho in 2006.

To prevent the nematode’s spread, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service enacted quarantine regulations that affect roughly 175 square miles in Idaho’s Bonneville and Bingham counties.

Farmers are prohibited from selling potatoes and other crops that risk carrying the pest in interstate commerce unless they comply with APHIS rules for infested fields and those at risk of infestation.

Growers affected by the restrictions have claimed the testing requirements and other procedures are excessive and go further than in other countries where the nematode is found.

A lawsuit filed last year by 13 farms accuses APHIS of violating administrative law by imposing the regulations in an “arbitrary and capricious” manner and failing to follow public notice-and-comment requirements, among other allegations.

“APHIS’s ad hoc and ever-changing protocols have put, and will continue to put, fields owned or farmed by plaintiffs into a circuitous and undefined state of regulation for an undefined period of time,” the complaint said.

Attorneys for USDA filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to dismiss the lawsuit on jurisdictional grounds because the growers lack the legal standing to challenge the regulations in federal court.

Lodge has rejected that argument, finding that the farmers have plausibly claimed they’ve sustained injuries from the USDA’s actions that can be rectified in federal court.

The judge also held the plaintiffs were “sufficiently specific” in their allegations that APHIS acted improperly in adopting and implementing its protocols for controlling the nematode.

However, claims against the Idaho State Department of Agriculture and its director, Celia Gould, were thrown out by Lodge because they’re based on alleged state law violations that can’t be tried in federal court.

The judge nonetheless dismissed those claims without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of a lawsuit against ISDA and Gould in state court.