Stonyfield is suing NY farm for $7.5m

CONCORD – Stonyfield Farm has sued a New York company that it had contracted to manufacture two styles of yogurt, seeking roughly $7.5 million in damages.

Stonyfield, of Londonderry, filed the suit Nov. 25 in U.S. District Court against Agro-Farm of New Berlin, charging breach of warranty and contract, and violation of New Hampshire’s consumer-protection laws.

Stonyfield contracted with Agro-Farm in 2006 to make Stonyfield’s nonfat yogurt and an organic, Greek-style yogurt that Stonyfield sold under the brand name Oikos.

“Greek yogurt . . . is strained to remove the whey, resulting in a creamier product richer in protein and lower in lactose,” the suit states.

Agro-Farm also made its own “all-natural” Greek yogurt, Chobani, which competed with Stonyfield, and the suit charges that Agro-Farm unfairly described the two competing products as “fundamentally equivalent” to customers.

Stonyfield’s lawsuit charges that the New York company failed to abide by the terms of their agreement, and later provided defective Greek yogurt, which Stonyfield had to recall.

Agro-Farm has yet to respond to the suit.