Monday, June 22, 2015

Spud supply management leads to lawsuit


Seven years ago, potato growers across the United States tried voluntary supply management, calling for a 10 per cent cut in planting in an effort to boost prices to at least the cost of production.

Now a federal judge has signed off on a $25 million settlement in a lawsuit between wholesale grocers and potato farming associations accused of forming a price-fixing cartel.

What a travesty!

Canada’s marketing boards, which do not have supply-management powers, applauded the U.S. acreage cuts and urged their members to join in.

Associated Wholesale Grocers filed the class-action lawsuit in 2010, claiming farmers managed to raise the cost of a 10-pound bag of potatoes fro m about $9 in 2007 to roughly $15 in 2008.

The defendants — including United Potato Growers of America, whose members produce about 75 per cent of the potatoes grown in the U.S. — denied the claims.

They said they were simply running an effective co-operative, focused on helping their members navigate the fluctuating potato market, and that their actions were allowed under the 1922 federal Capper-Volstead Act. The law gives a limited exemption from antitrust rules for agricultural co-operatives.

The Kansas-based Associated Wholesale Growers, a co-operative of more than 2,600 retail stores in 30 states, contended the potato growing groups strictly enforced their limitations using GPS, satellite imaging and even farmland fly-overs.