REGINA (Staff) – A Saskatchewan farmer charged with smuggling prohibited farm chemicals into the United States pleaded not guilty in a North Dakota courtroom May 7.
Ben Hudye, 38, of Norquay, appeared in U.S. District Court in Grand Forks before magistrate judge Alice Senechal. Senechal said Hudye’s trial has been set for June 10.
Hudye was arrested at the Portal, N.D. border crossing April 8 after U.S. Customs officials inspected a grain truck he owned.
The truck allegedly contained 120 cases of Achieve Plus D, grass and broadleaf herbicide concealed underneath oats, according to an affidavit filed in district court by the U.S. Customs Service. Achieve is not registered in the U.S.
Hudye was not part of a protest staged that day by Farmers for Justice.
The group had trucked wheat and barley to the U.S. through the Portal border crossing without valid export permits to voice opposition to the Canadian Wheat Board sales monopoly.
