State of PBH

Elizabeth Pivonka gave a presentation at the March 17 Produce for Better Health Foundation Board of Trustees meeting about the state of PBH . I've pulled a few excerpts and put it on this audio file. What you hear is Elizabeth's discussion of the background of the brand development and a little about targeting GenX moms. I left out some of the budget discussion and internal surveys that were also a part of her presentation. She concludes with the optimism and energy she is known for. The tipping point for creating behavior change will be spurred by the More Matters campaign, she believes. And its success. like the 5 a Day campaign before it, rests heavily on the participation of the industry.

Questions and Answers about More Matters

The picture above is Clark Wood of Wal-Mart and Tom Stenzel of United Fresh visiting during a break at the March 18 PBH Board of Trustees meeting in San Francisco.

Here is a link to the the March 18 Q & A with Jennifer Scott of Ogilvy Worldwide after her presentation on GenX Mom research findings to the PBH Board of Trustees meeting. She covers questions dealing with the influence of kids over their parents' buying decisions, the shrinking number of traditional families, how the More Matters campaign relates to lower income moms and the relative influence of retailers compared with the Internet.

Remember that PBH consumer research found that 44% of GenX moms regarded the Internet as their "first choice" for information; supermarkets were rated first choice by just 5% of GenX moms. However, Scott and Elizabeth Pivonka believe retail influence is under reported.


By the way, the download link takes about 10 seconds to appear and is at the bottom of the Web page. Sorry about the ads - they are a concession to a free site.

Marler again

You can run but you can't hide from references to Bill Marler in the consumer and trade press. In this Land Line story, Marler is the central focus of a feature about food safety and he reveals an even stronger judgement of the industry's move toward a voluntary marketing agreement in California.
From the story:

How long can the produce industry continue to dance around mandatory regulation?
That’s the question famed E. coli attorney Bill Marler posed to Land Line Magazine when he responded to an article, “Produce industry still missing the point with self-regulation,” posted on Land Line’s daily Web news last week.
“To be honest with you, I never realized how wide of a swath has been impacted by the E. coli outbreak,” Marler told Land Line on March 16. “I didn’t even think of the impact on truckers.”
The E. coli outbreak in September 2006 piqued the interest of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, since many produce haulers were stuck with the financial and logistical responsibilities of disposing of potentially contaminated spinach. Some were not paid for their loads that weren’t even part of the recall because no regulations are in place to protect truckers in situations where produce has been recalled.
Marler's firm, Marler Clark, based in Seattle, has become one of the nation’s foremost law firms representing victims of food-borne illnesses. His firm is representing 93 victims of the recent E. coli outbreak, who were sickened after eating bagged spinach. So far, none of the clients Marler represents have received a penny, he said. However, a recent Iraq spending bill in Congress includes a provision that would give $25 million in federal aid to help spinach growers financially impacted by the E. coli scare, according to a recent article in The New York Times.
Marler agrees with OOIDA leaders who say the FDA isn’t doing enough to ensure consumer confidence in eating leafy greens, and that federal oversight is needed to protect public health.
“Without some uniform standards that are applicable to everybody and more rigorous oversight, this is going to happen again,” Marler said. “It still kind of perplexes me when I go to these hearings and I listen to shippers and growers and hear them say they want a voluntary marketing agreement – basically dancing around regulation.
“But, they never really articulate a clear reason why they don’t want it. They are basically telling everybody publicly that they want it strictly enforced, but they want to enforce it themselves, and I think it’s kind of gone past that.”
Marler began litigating food-borne illness cases in 1993, when he represented victims of the highly publicized Jack-in-the-Box E. coli O157:H7 hamburger outbreak. His litigation helped change the United States Department of Food and Agriculture’s meat-inspection procedures.
E. coli contamination in meat is down almost 80 percent because of stringent USDA inspection procedures now in place, but the same stringent procedures must be applied to the produce industry, he said.
“Until the produce industry realizes they must change their practices and stop dancing around regulation, I am going to continue to take money from them,” Marler said. “All I have to do is prove their products make people sick.”

must
TK: This "dance around regulation" will take time, as more than half the industry may not want anything to do with the concept of strong federal oversight and another substantial element of growers may have second thoughts. Even so, Bill Marler must agree that not all wisdom comes from Sacramento or Washington, D.C. The American people certainly know the Washington way is not always the best way. In the end, however, consumers must be reassured that FDA oversight of produce safety is strong. Much more needs to be done to make that perception a reality.

Budget Rules

While the Senate version of the produce title for the farm bill has yet to appear - it is expected sometime this week - it is clear that finding new money for specialty crop programs in the next farm bill won't be easy. Here is an excerpt from the House Budget Committee fiscal 2008 budget resolution. A key point is that while $20 billion will be held in reserve, offsets (reductions in other programs) must be found to have access to that money.

Revising the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2007, establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2008, and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2009 through 2012.

SEC. 204. RESERVE FUND FOR AGRICULTURE.
In the House, with respect to a bill or a joint resolution (or an amendment thereto or conference report there on) that provides for the reauthorization of the programs of the Food Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 or prior Acts, authorizes similar programs, or both, increases new budget authority by no more than $20,000,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2007 through 2012, the chairman of the Committee on the Budget may make the appropriate adjustments in allocations of a committee or committees and budgetary aggregates, but only to the extent that such bill or joint resolution (as amended, in the case of an amendment) in the form placed before the House by the Committee on Rules would not increase the deficit or decrease the surplus for the period of fiscal years 2007 through 2012 and the period of fiscal years 2007 through 2017. The adjustments may be made whenever a rule providing for consideration of such a bill or joint resolution is filed, such a bill or joint resolution is placed on any calendar, or an amendment is offered or considered as adopted or a conference report is submitted on such a bill or joint resolution.

What am I, chopped liver?

Baby boomers like myself are used to being the center of attention, but the Produce for Better Health campaign to increase fruit and vegetable consumption is targeting GenX moms. A day before the launch of the Fruits & Veggies - More Matters campaign, Jennifer Scott, of Ogilvy Worldwide summarized "why GenX moms" to the PBH Board of Trustees meeting in San Francisco. Here is a link to the last part of her remarks.

Johanns audio

I have uploaded some of the interview from Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns' visit to The Packer's Lenexa offices. Here is is the link to download the audio file. Let me know if you have any trouble with the link....

I ask him first about the planting provision of the farm bill and Lance Jungmeyer follows with a question about border inspectors switching from the Department of Homeland Security to APHIS. Johanns follows with some comments about the role of marketing orders in food safety and talks a little about how the USDA's meat inspection system and how it could be a model for the FDA to follow.