Over my dead body

"Over my dead body." That's when one Australian politician said NZ apples would enter the Aussie market, and New Zealand growers are probably thinking, "That can be arranged."
New Zealand growers are short of patience about the eternity it is taking to win market access to Australia and have vowed to take their complaints to the World Trade Organization. Here's the latest coverage from a New Zealand news site.

Immigration particulars

Amid news that the Senate is postponing action on comprehensive immigration reform until June, here is a summation of the bill's major points.
From www.workpermit.com:


Some Key Points of the Senate Proposal:
Current Illegal Immigrants
• only people who arrived before 01 January 2007 are eligible to stay
• a path toward legalization for illegal immigrants
• both a "Y" and a "Z" visa are proposed
• family relations will become less important in determining visas
• a points-based system will be developed to attract immigrants by skills
• minors brought into the U.S. who are still under 30 eligible for green cards in 3 years instead of 8
Border Security
• 18,000 new border patrol agents
• additional 200 miles of vehicle barriers and 370 miles of wall along U.S.-Mexico border
• 70 new ground-based radar and camera towers along the southern border
• undetermined number of new ground-based radar and camera towers along other borders
• deploy four unmanned aerial vehicles and supporting systems
• provide for detaining up to 27,500 illegals per day on an annual basis
Workplace Enforcement
• secure and effective identification tools to prevent unauthorized work
• require employers to electronically verify legal eligibility of new employees
• increase penalties for unlawful hiring, employment and record keeping violations
Future Immigrants
• Spouses and minor children of U.S. citizens and permanent residents would be eligible for green cards based purely on their family connections, but other relatives such as adult children and siblings would not.
• 380,000 visas a year would be awarded based on a point system; scores would depend on about 50% employment criteria, 25% education, 15% on English proficiency and 10% on family connections
• new limits to U.S. citizens seeking to bring foreign-born parents into the country
• visas for parents of U.S. citizens would be capped annually at 40,000
• visas for spouses and children would be capped annually at 87,000

Please encourage support of Farm Bill

As Congress begins the process of crafting new farm bill legislation this year, there are both increased challenges and new opportunities that must be considered and addressed. America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network has been working to ensure that the opportunity to reduce hunger in America is not overlooked in the budget discussions and to encourage support for a strong nutrition title in the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization that improves the Food Stamp Program and bolsters the efforts of emergency food providers. As members of Congress consider the 2008 budget resolution, we respectfully request that members provide an adequate level of resources so that these urgent national priorities can be effectively carried out.

Far too many people in our communities lack resources to put food on their tables consistently for themselves and their families. According to the most recent survey of food security conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 35 million Americans, including 12 million children, in the United States live in households that face a constant struggle against hunger.

Providing an adequate level funding for the nutrition title will allow the Food Stamp Program to maintain its basic entitlement structure and will allow more resources to be devoted to the program so that it will not only be able to expand access, but also to provide for greater program simplification.

Providing adequate funding for the nutrition title will also assist the nation’s emergency food providers – the food banks, the food pantries, and the soup kitchens – who are stretched to serve more and more people whose food stamp benefits have run out mid-month or whose income and resources put them just above the food stamp eligibility threshold. Currently, more than 25 million unduplicated people are accessing emergency food annually through food banks. In any given week, some 4.5 million people access food through pantries and soup kitchens throughout the United States. Requests for emergency food assistance are outstripping the resources provided through The Emergency Assistance Food Program (TEFAP) and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP).

Since the enactment of the last Farm Bill, there has been a troubling decrease in commodity donations through TEFAP, a program which serves an estimated 15 million low-income people. At the same time, requests for emergency food assistance have increased by 8 percent or more. Moreover, inventories held to support CSFP and support its costs have virtually disappeared, leaving the program under-funded when appropriations are not sufficient to offset the shortfall.

The reauthorization of the Farm Bill provides an opportunity to strengthen and support critical nutrition programs like TEFAP, CSFP, and the Food Stamp Program. We urge you to ensure that, at a minimum, not less in new funding for nutrition programs is provided in the upcoming Farm Bill than was provided for in the 2002 Farm Security and Rural Investment Act. A strong nutrition title will allow the most vulnerable among us to share in the blessing of this nation’s agricultural bounty.

Rick: We are approaching difficult times for many Americans. We all know that there is going to many increased costs for everything that we use from fuel to apples. It's all connected in one way or another. These are staggering statistics.

Immigration-Avocado discussion

Again, I must commend some of our Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group threads. Find the group's link on the right side of the blog or just follow this.

Lately, there has been a discussion of the avocado industry, including everything from the avocado trade's relationship to immigration, California retail price strategies, and fake guacamole.
One of our members notes that instead of focusing on phytosanitary and maturity issues, why not look at topics that could lead to the greater good of all marketers: His candidates:

1. Price
2. Organoleptic qualities
3. The concoction known as guacamole with no avocado

I find myself getting an education already, and all the more if you join as well!

How green are my golden arches

The National Restaurant Associations notes the green trend in foodservice:


(Washington, D.C.) The National Restaurant Association announced today that it is forming a new Board of Directors task force to take the lead on implementing the Association's recently launched environmental initiative and encourage the nation's 935,000 restaurant-and-foodservice outlets to adopt practices that are good for both business and the environment. The Green Task Force is being created at the Association's Board meeting and trade show in Chicago, and will be chaired by Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants. The Association launched its environmental initiative in the summer of 2006, and received a grant from the Turner Foundation in April 2007 to continue its efforts.
"As we are advancing our environmental initiative, we called on our Board of Directors to provide guidance toward guiding the nation's restaurant-and-foodservice outlets toward sustainable operations," said Association Acting Interim President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Kilgore. "The Board directors serving on our Green Task Force have the experience and the passion for environmental issues and are a great resource to us and to the industry as we move forward with our efforts."
The goal of the Green Task Force will be to provide support and guidance to the Association and the industry, as well as to help educate and inspire restaurants of any size and concept to conserve natural resources while supporting the economic successes of the $537 billion industry and individual operations.
The initiative was created to educate and guide restaurateurs toward eco-friendly, business-smart practices and the Association is currently developing an online information clearinghouse, including the publication of research conducted in the first phase of the initiative.
The goal of the overall initiative is to identify practices that conserve energy, water and other natural resources, increase recycling, and encourage the creation and use of sustainable materials and alternative energy sources that also reduce operational costs for restaurants.

That's the idea

Lorelei DiSogra of United passes on this news from Europe.


From the story:

Europe's farm chief plans to introduce a school fruit scheme similar to that in place for milk, as part of a wider campaign to promote healthy eating and combat obesity among children, officials said on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel unveiled plans to overhaul the EU's vast fruit and vegetables industry , revising or scrapping many of the annual 1.5 billion euros ($2 billion) of subsidies paid to farmers.
In the negotiations that the bloc's 27 farm ministers will hold on her reform plan, scheduled for next month, Fischer Boel is expected to recommend using EU subsidies to distribute fruit in schools as part of a compromise reform agreement.


TK: This looks to be enlightened public policy from Europe, and we can only hope the U.S. example, now followed by the EU response will be answered by a vigorous U.S. expansion of USDA fruit and vegetable snack program.

A vote for a do nothing bill

I heard a couple of sobering comments last week on Capitol Hill.


"A majority of Senators would be happy with a do nothing farm bill." "If you put it to a vote, most Senators would vote for a do nothing farm bill."


Of course, these revelations shouldn't be surprising. The status quo tends to perpetuate itself. But it more clearly defines the challenges for fruit and vegetable advocates in the months ahead.


Also, there was more skepticism about the $2.75 billion that the USDA set aside in their 10-year farm bill proposal for "additional fruit and vegetable purchases" for distribution in food assistance programs. The Congressional Budget Office scored the proposal as zero impact on the budget because the purchases lie within their existing authority and the USDA didn't specify how much of their commodity purchases would be f/v versus other commodities. The USDA either had to pick a fight (with other commodity groups) or spend more money, and the agency did neither.


A more clearly defined benefit to the industry from the Administration would have been to advocate for $2.75 billion over 10 years to fund expansion of the fruit and vegetable program.

There are significant challenges ahead in the quest to fund industry priorities, particularly considering the budget outlook and the propensity for a do-nothing farm bill. This will be the best farm bill ever for fruits and vegetable, but as one Capitol Hill source said, "when the bar is on the ground it doesn't take much to be the best ever." Raising the bar to meaningful heights is the task ahead.

New feeds

I've added blog feeds of Mulchblog and Marglerblog to FreshTalk. Of course you know Bill Marler, the oft-quoted and well-spoken Seattle lawyer specializing in foodborne illness cases.
As farm bill issues heat up - particularly conservation issues - you will find insight from Ken Cook's Mulchblog. Cook is associated with the Environmental Working Group, of the farm subsidy database fame.