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While Horne v. USDA (i.e. the “raisin case”) received much attention because of the outrageous nature of the federal government’s actions (imposing fines on raisin growers for not turning over some of their raisins to the government), it is far from unique. In particular, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) uses its power to enforce a number of cartels through industry agreements known as marketing orders. Fruit and vegetable marketing orders allow the federal government to authorize supply restrictions limiting how much of their goods agricultural producers may sell. While these marketing orders should be eliminated, this report focuses on arguably the most egregious aspect of marketing orders: the supply restrictions.
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