Today is Hunger Awareness Day

From Rick Bella: Today communities across the country will participate in Hunger Awareness Day, which recognizes the more than 35 million Americans suffering from hunger or food insecurity.
Hunger Awareness Day is an opportunity for Americans to show their united support for one of the most solvable social issues in the country—hunger relief. From advocating to raising awareness, or sponsoring and participating in an event, to volunteering, everyone can join us in fighting hunger in their communities.

This year’s campaign includes a variety of exciting events happening around the country and many opportunities for you to get involved. "Goin' Home For Hunger" Did you know that many of the hottest stars are supporters of America’s Second Harvest?

Designed as a campaign to link stars with their hometown food bank, “Goin’ Home for Hunger” is sending leading actors, actresses, musicians and other personalities back to where they grew up. Among the stars participating: actor and Bostonian Ben Affleck, Olympian and Nashville resident Scott Hamilton, singer and Cincinnati native Nick Lachey, and Los Angeles’ own actor Scott Wolf. Affleck will volunteer at the Greater Boston Food Bank. Hamilton will stop by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to volunteer and Lachey will volunteer at Cincinnati's FreeStore FoodBank and host a Taste of the NFL event in support of the food bank Wolf will be at the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank to help bring greater awareness to the issue of hunger in southern California.

Rick: These wonderful events are taking place across the country. But, I would be remiss not to mention all of the fresh produce donors who contact us each day with donations of fresh produce. This year, again will be another record breaking year with over 110 million pounds of fresh produce being supplied through the national program at America's Second Harvest. Potatoes topped the list at 33% of our total. They are always in demand and we offer a variety of items from various shipping points across the U.S. The program is supported by about $10M to assist with packaging and transportation costs to get produce to member food banks. About 40% of the total is provided by the national office with the balance coming from the local food bank budgets or about $6M. The program continues to grow and more and more industry produce companies are assisting. Many thanks to all of you who have provided us with fresh produce. If you'd like to get involved, contact Rick Bella at rbella@secondharvest.org or call 800-771-2303 x6507 for more information. Visit http://www.secondharvest.org for more details. Thank you all for your continued support.

No jurisdiction

I was visiting the offices of the Farm Bureau this afternoon and had a chance to visit with Ron Gaskill, Tara Smith and Rebecca Freeman about various topics, including the farm bill, the EPA, methyl bromide, produce safety and more.

When we talked about federal oversight of produce safety at the farm level, Gaskill said the Farm Bureau is opposed to federal regulation. He said FDA guidance is acceptable, but he argued that FDA has no statutory authority to regulate at the grower level. I have never heard the argument framed in those terms, and I want to look up the authorizing language for more clarity on this issue. While FDA has oversight over produce from the distributor onward, Gaskill said FDA authority at the grower level is a "gray area." More to come on this...

Meanwhile, Gaskill said Sen. Tom Harkin's draft food safety legislation - mostly consisting of recycled language from a 1999 bill - will simply serve as a marker bill to make sure Harkin has influence in possible food safety legislation developed in the Senate.

Blue news

The USDA published a proposed rule today in the Federal Register here that will allow blueberry imports from South Africa and Uruguay. In addition, the proposed rule would allow cold treatment for blueberries from Argentina. Comments can be received through July 20.

From the rule's summary:

We are proposing to allow the importation into the continental United States of fresh blueberries from South Africa and Uruguay under certain conditions. As a condition of entry, the blueberries would have to undergo cold treatment and would have to be accompanied by a phytosanitary certificate issued by the national plant protection organization of the exporting country. This action would allow for the importation of blueberries from South Africa and Uruguay into the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the introduction of quarantine pests. In addition, we are proposing to allow the use of cold treatment for blueberries imported into the United States from Argentina. This action would provide an alternative to the methyl bromide treatment that is currently required for blueberries imported from Argentina.

How much volume can be expected?

Argentina has supplied about 3 percent of the U.S. imports of fresh blueberries, or 880 metric tons, over the last 3 years. In 2006, Argentina reported 4,000 acres of land devoted to blueberry production, a 35 percent increase since 2003. The Uruguayan Government Statistics office indicates that Uruguay started producing blueberries in 2003, with 65 metric tons harvested that year. In the following 3 years, Uruguay produced 80, 120, and 200 metric tons, respectively. For 2007 through 2009, crop volumes of around 500, 1,200, and 2,000 metric tons are forecast. The Government of Uruguay has indicated its intention to export between 200 and 1,200 metric tons of fresh blueberries annually for the next 3 years starting in 2007, with 200 metric tons shipped annually to the continental United States.

Uruguay's main export season for fresh blueberries is between November and April. During this season, the supply of fresh blueberries by U.S. producers is limited. Fresh blueberries are generally harvested in the United States by early May through the beginning of September. U.S. domestic shipments of fresh blueberries reach their highest volume between late June and mid-August. APHIS does not have data on South African production of blueberry fruits

Be it resolved

"The fruit and vegetable industry advisory committee strongly recommends the USDA facilitate and advocate the development and adoption of unified food safety standards for the f/v industry that reflect the risks associated with individual commodities and the entire supply chain."


After a lengthy discussion, the industry advisory adopted the above recommendation this morning. While it did not contain the word "mandatory," the sense of the committee is that it is implied.

An interesting wrinkle this morning was when Bob Keeney of AMS queried the industry on whether Secretary Johanns could play a role in perhaps publishing an advance notice of rulemaking regarding a national marketing agreement for leafy greens. There was no immediate action on that point by the committee, however.

Coming up..discussion of farm bill and COOL.