What if the federal government had a stranglehold on the supply of tart cherries in America? Would you be confused? Outraged?

I cannot tell a lie. Such a stranglehold exists. And I'm a little bit of both.

My questions stem from an ongoing lawsuit, details of which emerged this week, that pits a Michigan cherry canner against the USDA in a battle over an appallingly stupid USDA creation known as the Cherry Industry Administrative Board (CIAB).

While the administrative lawsuit has been winding its way through the USDA since it was filed in 2011, the story came to light this week thanks to an annual Michigan cherry festival and a good piece of investigative writing on the topic by a Michigan journalist.

More on that in a minute. But first, a bittart cherry crop that can be sold."

The CIAB has the force of federal law behind it.

"The CIAB is authorized under Federal law, and it is considered an 'instrumentality' of the United States Department of Agriculture," declares the board's website. "Therefore, it is the Secretary of Agriculture who oversees the operations of the CIAB and under whose aegis the order operates."

The board's role, it notes, is to make sure "the annual supply of tart cherries [matches] the demand for tart cherries."

That's a job that used to be left to farmers and the folks who buy their produce. Now it's a board decision.

But the CIAB is just one scheme for marketing cherries. In addition to the USDA's marketing order program and a Cherry Grower's Association, cherry marketing and prices are