No match delayed further

Here is the link to the Reuters story about the no-match rule and the California court. This is good news, but perhaps only a temporary respite. The order blocks the Social Security Administration from sending out 140,000 letters to employers with workers with no-match SS#s.
From the story:


Judge Charles Breyer of the U.S. District Court for Northern California, after a two-hour hearing, extended a temporary restraining order for 10 days while he prepares a decision on the legality of the department's efforts.

Select a candidate quiz

The Packer's Dan Galbraith passed along this link that represents an easy way to see how the candidates for President stack up with your personal views. Take the poll and the computer will tell you who most closely aligns with your positions. John McCain has new life after my quiz.

From the Web page:

Answer the 11 questions below to find out which candidates are most aligned with your views and opinions. You may skip questions if you do not want them factored into the results. This quiz is not meant to pick your candidate for you. It is designed to inform the public of the various stances candidates make. Results are not scientific. Based on a tool developed by Minnesota Public Radio.

Deal or no deal

One farm lobbyist I just spoke with said that it would beg belief to think the Senate Agriculture Committee could begin markup by Thursday or Friday. The lobbyist also said Harkin's doesn't appear to have a lot of backing within the committee, but no one has seen the alternative farm bill proposal that apparently has been put together by Sen. Conrad. With the Columbus Day holiday break next week, the Senate Agriculture Committee will be under the gun to move quickly after the break. Here is the link from CQ talking about possible offsets to provide funding above baseline for the farm bill.

Washington apple f.o.b.s

Harkin's latest

Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman Tom Harkin briefed reporters for a short 14-minute teleconference today. He revealed he expects to receive about $9 billion from the Senate Finance Committee, of which about $4-5 billion will be used over five years for a permanent disaster program. Harkin said he hopes to start markup of the Ag committee's farm bill by sometime in the day Thursday, just after the Finance Committee delivers their work. He did not say where the Senate Finance Committee would find the money for the $9 billion or so, and he appeared eager to distance himself from the Senate Finance Committee.

It will be revealing to see where the Finance Committee finds the money for the farm bill. If part of it comes from new tax revenue from the H2A program, as has been leaked, there will be no joy in produce land.

It is unclear how fruit and vegetable priorities will do in the Senate package, but I think it is quite plain that it will be an uphill climb to match the funding and the language in the House bill. Given the controversy over funding offsets, getting the produce industry "on board" this farm bill from the Senate may be no easy task, either.

Falling into produce promotions:

I've seen Honeycrisp apples featured a couple times in food page ads, and this week Dillons is featuring Honeycrisp at $2.49/lb. Consumers are becoming more familiar with this variety and understand the higher price point comes with a payoff of great taste. Meanwhile, red seedless grapes get some aggressive features this week.


Food page ads: Oct. 3-9

Dillons:
Honeycrisp apples: $2.49/lb
Fresh green cabbage: 2 lbs/88 cents
Red seedless grapes: $1.89/lb
Tomatoes on the vine: $1.99/lb
Kroger russet potatoes: 2 5-lb bags for $5
Private Selection Organic Salads: 2 for $6


Hen House: Oct. 5-7
Tons of varieties: turk turban gourds, apple gourds, pie pumpkins, assorted hard squash, swan gourds, hubba hubba squash, birdhouse gourds: 2 for $4

Oct. 3-9
Red seedless grapes: $1.69/lb
Driscoll's strawberries: 2 for $6
Driscoll's blueberries: 2 for $6 (4.4 ounce)
Emeril's Romanita tomatoes: 2 for $4
Emeril's certified organic baby spinach: 2 for $6
Certified organic cantaloupes: 2 for $6
Red or gold B-size potatoes w/rosemary: $2.49/each 28-ounce

Price Chopper
Red seedless grapes: 79 cents/lb
Honeycrisp apples: $2.49/lb
BC red, orange and yellow peppers: $2.99/lb
Dole classic iceberg or cole slaw: $1.29/lb
Mann's steamed vegetables: 13-14 ounces: 2 for $5

Opinion: Charles Sweat in USA Today

Here is the link to the letter sent Charles Sweat, president, Natural Selection Foods - San Juan Bautista, Calif., to USA Today. Here is the text:

For everyone here at Natural Selection Foods, USA TODAY's story about E. coli in spinach was a reminder of how deeply saddened we are by the human toll of last year's outbreak ("Spinach recall: 5 faces. 5 agonizing deaths. 1 year later," Cover story, Money, Sept. 21).
The people whom USA TODAY profiled are not just names and photos to us; I have met with many of their families. They, and all of those affected, are in our thoughts and prayers.
At the request of USA TODAY, we spent hours with one of its reporters explaining the details of our food safety program and the changes we and the industry have made over the past year. Unfortunately, much of that information was not included in the story:
Within hours of the recall, we turned to food safety experts from outside of our industry.
We learned that scientists in the beef industry had developed a credible system of testing for raw product and finished goods that had significantly reduced the number of illnesses associated with beef.
We learned that this program could be implemented for leafy greens, and leading scientists were eager to help us do it.
Today, we lab test all lots of greens twice — once when they arrive from the fields and again before we send them out — and we hold them in place until test results show no presence of pathogens.
We have also instituted enhanced preventative measures in the fields.
As terrible as the outbreak's impact has been, we believe that it can catalyze positive change — that as a country and as an industry we must share a renewed focus on food safety and an unrelenting commitment to find solutions to this difficult problem.

TK: Failing a kill step that would prevent pathogens on produce, it is hard to argue with the approach of Natural Selection Foods to "lab test all lots of greens twice, and hold them in place until test results show no presence of pathogens."