PepsiCo is suing four small farmers in India for growing a type of potato exclusively reserved for its Lays potato chips, reports CNN. The global food giant is demanding each farmer (whose farms are only a few acres) pay 10 million rupees ($143,000). Pepsi told the farmers it would drop the suit if they either stop growing the potatoes or agree to become assimilated.
“That was a discussion that happened in the court today,” a PepsiCo spokesperson told CNN. “We told them, why don’t you join our program and we will provide seeds … Either join us or grow other potatoes. That way, we are willing to let go of the case.”
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Farmers’ associations and activists in India called on the Indian government to step in and take action against PepsiCo. In a letter to the government published earlier this week and shared with CNN Business, they said the farmers’ rights to grow and sell registered crops are protected under India’s agricultural laws.