Two farm operations in southwestern Oregon filed suit in state court against a voter-approved ban on genetically engineered crops in Jackson County, says the Medford Mail Tribune. The farmers ask for the ban to be voided as a violation of the state’s right-to-farm law or for the court to order the county to pay them $4.2 million to compensate for lost income because they would have to destroy fields of the Roundup Ready alfalfa to comply with the ordinance. The ban, approved by a 2-to-1 margin in May, takes effect on June 6, 2015.
The farmers say no replacement crop would be as profitable as the alfalfa now growing on the combined 305 acres, said the Mail Tribune. The lawsuit was backed by farming, agriculture and biotechnology organizations, it said.