Aug 26, 2015

Could raisin case help Michigan cherry grower?

In late June, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a California raisin grower arguing that government agencies should not be allowed to claim control of a portion of a crop.

After hearing the news, a Michigan cherry grower thinks the decision may help his case.

Here’s more from Interlochen Public Radio:

       An Elk Rapids cherry processor is suing the federal government over its power to regulate the industry. The man who filed the lawsuit is encouraged by a recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court involving raisins.

       Bill Sherman has run Burnette Foods with his brothers for 59 years. Way in the back of his factory are rows of pallets, stacked floor to ceiling with thousands of cans of pie filling. It’s pie filling that Sherman can’t sell.

       “It’s very annoying and expensive, obviously,” he says. “It’s just something that we wish we could escape from.”

       He can’t sell these cans of pie filling because of rules enforced by the Cherry Industry Administrative Board.

       The board is empowered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and it’s responsible for regulating the cherry industry. Its main tool is a thing called Marketing Order 930.

The marketing order was put in place 20 years ago to stabilize the tart cherry industry. Because of that order, the cherry board determines how much product fruit processors can sell and Sherman “ends up with a warehouse full of unsold pie filling.”