Syngenta Seeds, Inc. v. County of Kauai

Kauai County passed Ordinance 960 to regulate pesticides and genetically engi neered (GE) plants. The Ordinance requires commercial farmers to maintain “buffer zones” .between crops to which pesticides are applied and certain smrounding properties, provide notifications before and after applying pesticides, and file annual reports disclosing the cultivation of GE crops. We must decide whether Ordinance 960’s pesticide provisions are impliedly preempted by Hawaii state law, as the district court held below. Applying the Hawaii Supreme Court’s “ ‘comprehensive statutory scheme’ test,” Richardson v. City & Cty. of Honolulu, 868 P.2d 1193, 1208 (Haw. 1994), we affirm.

I.

A. Plaintiffs’ farming operations on Kauai

Plaintiffs-Appellees Syngenta Seeds, Inc., Syngenta Hawaii, LLC, Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc., Agrigenetics, Inc., and BASF Plant Science LPs are companies that supply seed for GE plants. Plaintiffs grow a variety of GE seed crops on Kauai, including corn, soybeans, canola, and rice. As further explained in our concurrently filed opinion in Atay v. County of Maui, No. 15-16466, such GE crops have numerous important uses and play a major role in our nation’s food…