Calif. raisin farmers win new day in court

[June 11, 2013]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court is giving California raisin producers a new day in court to object to a government program that aims to stabilize prices by regulating the market.

The justices on Monday unanimously ordered a federal appeals court in California to take a new look at claims brought by farmers in California's Central Valley about a Depression-era program intended to raise the price of raisins by keeping some of them off the market. The state produces almost all raisins in the United States.

The farmers say the program unfairly prevents them from selling their entire crop when the government determines that there otherwise would be a glut of raisins that would drive prices down. They say the program unconstitutionally takes their private property without compensation.

[Associated Press]

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