Potato growers file federal lawsuit against PCN regulations

A group of potato farmers in Eastern Idaho who are regulated under a federal pale cyst nematode quarantine filed an administrative lawsuit April 28 against the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. The federal and state PCN program regulations “were put in place without proper notice to or input from the appropriate stakeholders,” according to a news release from the growers. “As a result, growers, landlords and packaging sheds have been burdened by the arbitrary and capricious manner in which the PCN program has been handled in Idaho.” More