Several California table grape grower organizations have filed a lawsuit against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), challenging the agency's approval of the Systems Approach protocol to import Chilean table grapes.
The complaint says the authorization unlawfully abandons traditional, time-tested safeguards and exposes U.S. grape producers to significant risks and costs, including those related to invasive pests.
The protocol was approved in June after more than 20 years of bilateral work, and the first grapes exported under the protocol are expected to reach the United States in November. The Systems Approach replaces methyl bromide fumigation with a series of mitigation measures applied at the origin of the fruit and it includes grapes from the Atacama, Coquimbo, and part of the Valparaíso regions in Chile.
The suit's plaintiffs are the California Table Grape Commission, The National Grape Research Alliance, and the California Table Grape Export Association.
The document lists the various reasons why the organizations are opposed to the implementation of the protocol and calls the decision arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with the law.
The associations say the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) failed to explain its reasoning behind the approval and did not provide a meaningful opportunity for notice and comment. They also added that APHIS declined to provide necessary documents and information to allow commenters to meaningfully engage with the organization's abandonment of fumigation.
The growers also argue that the agency's decision shifts risks and costs from the Chilean industry to the U.S. industry, which "has already borne significant costs from past pest outbreaks."
They allege APHIS worked with Chile's national plant protection organization behind closed doors to hammer out the details, and that "APHIS refuses to share the text of the operational work plan (OWP) with the public or to allow the public to comment on how the work plan should be structured."
Last year, the California Table Grape Commission's president, Kathleen Nave, released a statement asking the USDA to permanently abandon the approval of the Systems Approach protocol.
She said the proposal abandoned "an empirically successful treatment regime in favor of an ill-defined System Approach, through which many invasive pests could travel," and would pose a significant threat to wine, raisin, and table grape crops throughout the country.
The associations ask that the Court declare that the Grape Import Notice violates the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) because it is arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and otherwise not following the law.
