Europe Edition
A federal judge approved a $25 million settlement that completes one chapter of a five-year long antitrust battle over the nation's potato market.
Consumers will get $5.5 million and grocers $19.5 million. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill granted final approval of the settlement on Monday.
Jamestown, N.Y.-based potato buyer Brigiotta's Farmland Produce and Garden Center filed the class action against the United Potato Growers of America (UPGA), United Potato Growers of Idaho (UPGI) and a long list of member and nonmember growers in 2010.
The lawsuit, and another filed by Associated Wholesale Grocers in 2013, claims the defendants conspired to inflate the price of potatoes "in classic cartel behavior," that the cartel used physical and nonphysical intimidation to get independent growers to join, that it used high-tech methods of surveillance and physical "flyovers" to monitor members, and that the successful campaign led to an 80 percent control of the market.
Idaho grower Albert Wada, of Wada Farms Group, allegedly spearheaded the campaign, founding the United Fresh Potato Growers of Idaho in 2004, later renaming it the United Potato Growers of Idaho.
The organization's purpose, as stated in its articles of incorporation, is to "stabilize potato prices and supplies in the state of Idaho and to work with similar cooperatives in other states having similar purposes," according to the third amended complaint, a 107-page monster filed on Jan. 24, 2014.
Read more
Announcements
Job Offers
- Packing Supervisor
- International Account Manager
- Head Grower Greenhouse Canada
- Post Entry Quarantine Facility Manager
- Economic Policy Officer Agri-Tech Kentucky
- Licensing Manager North America
- Junior Sales Executive
- Fruit Breeder/Trait Discovery Scientist
- General Manager
- Regional Sales Manager – DACH Region
Specials more
Top 5 -yesterday
Top 5 -last week
Top 5 -last month
- El Niño will probably add to misery of SA farmers
- Avocado consumption reduces total cholesterol and Ldl C
- Criminal ‘food sellers’ are posing problems in South Africa
- "I am destroying my celery because they humiliate us offering just a few cents"
- Pomegranate grower gets off expensive chemical carousel
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2023-02-03 Potatoes should increase export option Pakistan
- 2023-02-03 Bengal potato growers might not benefit from surpluses
- 2023-02-03 Nashik Lasalgaon APMC: 30% drop in average wholesale onion price
- 2023-02-03 Onion prices down to P300 per kilo in Cebu
- 2023-02-03 First shipments of the Egyptian onion season depart next week, as the European market is in short supply
- 2023-02-03 Fresh potato supplies still strong in Queensland to meet consumers' hot chip demand
- 2023-02-03 Wholesale prices on onions have reached record-high levels in Georgia
- 2023-02-03 Solynta and Freshcrop sign hybrid potato collaboration agreement in Kenya
- 2023-02-03 Gross seed onion yield down 17.2 percent
- 2023-02-02 Two importers face large-scale agricultural smuggling charges
- 2023-02-02 P2.6 billions worth of onions sold directly to Filipino buyers, bypassing middlemen
- 2023-02-02 Potato retail sales on the rise: dollar sales increase 17.2% in Q4 2022
- 2023-02-02 China allowed truck entry on a border with Tajikistan
- 2023-02-02 'Demand for onions has been slightly off the norm for the last couple of weeks'
- 2023-02-02 A better choice! fruit and veg shops reporting a steady supply of potatoes
- 2023-02-02 Ireland: Demand for peeling stocks remains positive and potato prices remain firm
- 2023-02-02 “We recently completed successful trials of the Bellevue and Orleans varieties”
- 2023-02-02 Cyprus: Ministry of Agriculture to register red potato with EU
- 2023-02-01 Sweet potatoes elevated for American Heart Month
- 2023-02-01 UK funds Irish and sweet potato processing factory in Elgeyo County, Kenya
