Looking ahead to reform

As we approach the critical month of May in the Congressional debate for immigration reform, I offer this interview from early April with Luawanna Hallstrom, chief operating officer and general manager of Harry Singh & Sons and Business Manager for Oceanside Produce Inc., Oceanside, Calif. I ask her about the H2A program; Harry Singh & Sons farms some land on federal property and has had experience with the H2A program since 9/11. She, more than any other person, now how much the U.S. needs immigration reform, and especially reform of the H2A program.

Here is the link on an excerpt from our visit.

Rulemaking in Florida

More on the avocado front.

Here is the Federal Register rule that was published March 29. The advanced notice of proposed rulemaking is considering applying Florida avocado marketing order standards to all avocados. This seems to be a back door effort to use the Florida marketing order to impose tougher standards on imports. Comments are due by the end of May.

Here is a summary of the rule:

SUMMARY: The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), prior to undertaking research and other work associated with revising official grade standards, is soliciting comments on the possible revisions of the United States Standards for Grades of Florida Avocados. At a meeting with the Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee, AMS was asked to review the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable grade standards for usefulness in serving the industry. As a result AMS is considering revisions to the Florida Avocado standard to include all avocados.

TK: Florida avocados account for just 12,000 tons out of the 282,000 tons of U.S. avocados produced in 2005-06(California accounted for the balance). Plus, they produce very few hass fruit. It doesn't seem correct that the Florida marketing order should set the standards for all other avocados, including imports.

Searching for answers

Tom Burfield of The Packer had this coverage from Feb. 5 that mentions the possibility of federal legislation relating to maturity standards for imports of hass avocados.

Avocado growers told to get involved
By Tom Burfield, Western Correspondent
OXNARD, Calif. -- It's up to California avocado growers to become more involved in the market if they are to prosper while avocado volume continues to climb beyond the 1 billion pounds that hit the U.S. market in 2006, a California Avocado Commission official said during the group's annual meeting.
Mark Affleck, president and chief executive officer of the Irvine-based commission abandoned the commission's usual meeting format and replaced the presentations and speeches with a two-hour question-and-answer session Jan. 30 in Oxnard and Feb. 1 in Temecula.

Later...

A pessimistic state of mind that seemed to permeate an industry that feared an avocado glut may have affected those returns.
"What we need is strength in the selling system," he added, and more control over how and when the fruit from all sources enters the market.
Quality, especially in regard to imported fruit, also is important to sustain the market, said Tom Bellamore, vice president and corporate counsel.
The board is working to get federal legislation passed that would require imported fruit to meet the same minimum maturity requirements as California fruit.


TK: This link shows all the USDA marketing orders. Note that Florida avocados are listed, but not California. I would assume legislation is needed to implement minimum maturity standards for imports because California's standards for maturity are enforced through state law, not a federal marketing order. There may not be a precedent for using state law to compel imports to meet minimum maturity standards.

From the 2006 California Avocado Commission annual report:

California State Law dictates certain maturity standards that have helped us earn our reputation for a consistent supply of #1 fruit. But these standards do not apply to imported avocados, resulting in sub-par quality and performance across the category.

To raise the quality bar across the entire category and hold all producers accountable to deliver a good product, CAC is introducing federal legislation mandating that all suppliers meet our California State Fruit Maturity Standard. This law, which we intend to attach to the 2007 Farm Bill, changes nothing at all for California growers but it does compel
importers to deliver mature, high quality fruit to the marketplace.

TK: Here is a link to California's minimum maturity standards. From a trip two years ago in Chile, I know exporters there perform maturity tests on hass exports. How imposition of a California standard would change export opportunities is unclear, but we'll gather trade input this week. It sounds like the legislation introduced in Congress on this issue by Sen. Boxer is targeted for inclusion in the 2007 farm bill.