Idaho Farmers Challenge Potato Quarantine in Court

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A group of 10 eastern Idaho potato growers and a shipper have filed a lawsuit seeking to end a quarantine and testing of fields imposed by state and federal authorities after the discovery of a microscopic pest that led some countries to ban Idaho spuds.

The group in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Idaho last week cites the 10th Amendment concerning state's rights in arguing the federal government is illegally imposing regulations in Idaho through the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The lawsuit also says the Idaho State Department of Agriculture didn't comply with Idaho law in making decisions the group calls capricious. The discovery of the pale cyst nematode in Bingham and Bonneville counties in 2006 was the first detection of the pest in the United States.