A North Carolina farmer is suing tobacco merchant Universal Corp for allegedly stealing his idea for processing sweet potatoes, the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

Universal set up Carolina Innovative Food Ingredients in 2014 to process sweet potatoes grown as a rotation crop by its tobacco growers. However W. Frank Lee, a resident of Smithfield, North Carolina, said Universal and Universal Leaf North America used his ideas to set up the venture before ousting him, the newspaper reported. The suit was filed in Johnston County Superior Court.