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WILLAMETTE VALLEY VEGETABLE GROWERS ACCUSE NEW YORK FOOD CONGLOMERATE OF COAST-TO-COAST FRAUD

Farmers unite in class action demanding recovery of losses and full-scale investigation Salem, OR -- A group of Willamette Valley vegetable growers, who say they were victimized by a New York food conglomerate's systematic fraud and deception, have turned to the legal system for help. The farmers, who lost millions of dollars, have filed a class action suit against New York based Pro-Fac Cooperative, Inc. (NASDAQ: PFACP) and others for their misdeeds and calculated mismanagement of the Salem-based subsidiary, AgriFrozen.

"I lost sleep, trust and most of my retirement fund," said Bob Dettwyler of Blue Line Farms, lead plaintiff in the case. "Many of my neighbors and fellow farmers lost a lot more and some could lose their farms."

Pro-Fac came into the Willamette Valley via its subsidiary AgriFrozen under false pretense by offering a fair and full price for the vegetable growers' crops, according to the farmers. Instead, through a series of material omissions, they fraudulently induced the local growers into entering crop contracts and stock security agreements, and then took the farmers' crops, and refused to pay them the fair value of the crops and the stock. The suit further alleges that Pro-Fac then fled back to New York and slammed the door behind by closing down their Oregon frozen food processing operations.

"At this point the farmers only recourse to proving what they allege is to have a court pry open the New York conglomerates records and to allow us to conduct a thorough investigation," explained Mike Williams co-counsel for the farmers. "That is exactly what we are asking an Oregon judge to do."

In a move to protect itself from being held accountable, AgriFrozen recently filed for bankruptcy in a New York court. The farmer's class action asks for a recovery of all crop and stock losses, including economic damages of $50 million dollars.