No match no more - for now

Robert Guenther of United (alias UMSWIM) posted the first news of the preliminary injunction against the no-match rule on the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group. Find that link here.
The early take on this news is that industry and labor advocates have won for now, with the next step being either intervention by a higher court or the playing out of the lawsuit filed by labor unions against the DHS sometime next year.

More coverage is found here from the AP and here from the Central Valley Business Times.

Honoring the best in produce marketing

For those of you attending the Produce Marketing Association Fresh Summit in Houston this weekend, be sure to stake out some time for the Oct. 14 awards breakfast.

There, The Packer will present a deserving individual with the 2007 Global Produce Marketer of the Year award. This prestigious award goes to someone who typifies the absolute best in produce marketing, whether by efforts to increase consumption overall or efforts to build a brand or company.

Last year's honoree was J. Miles Reiter, chairman and chief executive officer of Driscoll Strawberry Associates Inc., Watsonville, Calif.

Who will take home the bowl of honor this year? Come to the awards ceremony to find out. Fair warning: It's at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday.

'Millionaire farmers' put on notice

Guest blogger Lance Jungmeyer here ...

In an effort to curb wasteful Farm Bill spending, a group called Taxpayers for Common Sense is mounting a big push to highlight the fact that many recipients of farm payouts are so-called "millionaire farmers."

A press release states: "What Taxpayers for Common Sense wants in a Senate farm bill is simple – less taxpayer waste, a smaller budgetary footprint, and significant reform to the Title I commodity programs.

"Where the House failed, the Senate has the opportunity to meet these challenges.

"The so-called reform in the House Farm Bill will actually increase taxpayer handouts to some of the largest and wealthiest farmers out there. For example, after feeding at the subsidy trough for dozens of years to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars, sugar and rice farmers will be in line for bigger handouts."

Taxpayers for Common Sense has teamed with Oxfam and other farm groups to mount a $225,000 media blitz in Washington, D.C., New Hampshire and Minnesota. Print and TV ads are part of the mix.

Here's a YouTube version of their 30-second TV ad.

Reform minded vs.industry minded

True believers in farm bill reform haven't given up the fight yet, even if they feel like their erstwhile specialty crop allies have left them high and dry. Below is a release about a new ad campaign from from Oxfam, with the Taxpayers for Common Sense and the Environmental Working Group on board as well, among others. Demian Moore of the Taxpayers for Common Sense said the reform-minded groups may back legislation that could be offered on the Senate floor from Sens. Lugar and Lautenberg to replace Title I commodity programs with a reformed crop insurance formula. I had a chance to visit with Robert Guenther of United today and he said the association and the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance made the right political choice in staying within the confines the House Agriculture Committee.
"We will continue to work with the Senate Agriculture Committee process and see how that works out, and if we are not satisfied with how the committee moves forward, then we may have to take our fight to the Senate floor," he said. "It's a very similar scenario to the House." Guenther was unapologetic that United and the specialty crop alliance worked within the committee process to secure mandatory funding for speciality crop alliance priorites in the House farm bill. "We had to look at it from the standpoint of what is gong to be in the best interest of the industry and what is going to be in the best interest of making sure we have mandatory funding to help the infrastructure of this industry." As an aside, Guenther noted he wasn't given an opportunity by the reporter to respond to the "cheap date" remark by Ken Cook in The New York Times article about farm bill politics.

From the news release:

A diverse group of taxpayer watchdogs, environmental and social justice organizations and faith groups joined to launch a major ad campaign today calling on Congress to stop putting millionaire farmers ahead of America’s family farms in the 2007 Farm Bill. The television and print ad campaign includes an aggressive $225,000 media buy in Minnesota, New Hampshire and Washington, DC.
The hard--hitting ads set up a direct contrast between the millionaire farmers that benefit most from the Farm Bill, versus small family farmers who are left out in the cold.
“The ball is clearly in the Senate’s court now and they need make the Farm Bill fair,” said Liam Brody, Farm Bill Campaign Director at Oxfam America, which paid for the campaign. “Our campaign asks Senators to stop handouts to millionaires who need it least, and instead help family farms that need it most.”
According to the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which also endorsed the ad campaign, 67% of all farmers and ranchers do not collect government subsidy payments in United States. Among subsidy recipients, 10% collected 73% of all subsidies, amounting to $120.5 billion over 11 years.
"The billions of dollars in payments to profitable big farm operations leave only table scraps for small family farmers. Partly financed by federal subsidies, these large operations now have the capitol to outbid smaller farmers for land,” said Ken Cook, President of EWG. “Large farms grow larger, and rural America dries up in the process. Is this government subsidized consolidation in the agriculture sector in the best interest of American taxpayers?"
The first wave of the ad campaign was launched with TV buys in New Hampshire and Minnesota today and print ads in several Washington, DC publications, including The Hill and Congress Daily last week. In both Minnesota and New Hampshire, the Farm Bill is becoming a hot-button political issue, with decisions made by voters having national implications in Senate and Presidential elections.
This farm bill stinks of rotten programs and taxpayer waste," said Ryan Alexander, President of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "We have joined in this effort to make sure Senators know that they need to clean up farm programs, making them market oriented, less costly and trade compliant."
The campaign was endorsed by Oxfam America, Church World Service, Citizens Against Government Waste, Environmental Working Group, Land Stewardship Project, Progressive National Baptist Convention, National Catholic Rural Life Conference, NETWORK, Sojourners/Call to Renewal, and Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Water woes in Southern California

Big Apple of the Fresh Produce Discussion Group posts this link about Southern California water woes and the impact on agriculture. From his post:

Officials from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California stated that deliveries to southern California's agricultural customers will be cut by almost a third next year. Half of the water to Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties comes from the district, with the rest coming from underground sources and other local supplies. Cuts to agricultural customers will take effect on January first, following the August delta smelt ruling. Many utilities sell water at a discount rate to agricultural users who, in exchange, are the first to suffer cutbacks during shortages. Rates for residential water customers are expected to increase five to ten percent in 2009.


For a good backgrounder on California's water issues, this Website for the Water Education Foundation appears to take a balanced approach. From the Website:

Since the days of Mark Twain -- who is said to have coined the phrase "Whiskey's for drinking; water's for fighting over" -- cities, farmers and environmentalists have battled over who will control California 's water.

TK: More battles ahead, now and well into the future. The foundation says California's Department of Water Resources forecasts a gap between water supply and demand ranging from 2.4 million acre feet during normal years and up to 6.2 million acre feet in drought years by 2020.

Tescoverated?

The blur of media coverage over the opening of a handful of convenience sized stores in a few Western states may get under the skin of larger U.S. retailers like Kroger and Wal-Mart, not to mention long-established chains in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada. I consider myself a guilty party in coverage a gaga to Tesco's Fresh & Easy concept, notwithstanding actual Tesco flesh and blood executives have been hard to find. But before the first store is open, I'm beginning to get Tesco fatigue. Maybe I should check back in when Tesco has four or five distribution centers and a few hundred stores. Nah, probably not. Time to post another Tesco story....

Pear market look-in

Sliced bread a distant second

Another reminder to check out the calendar at the bottom of this blog. You will find all U.S. and Mexican holidays, key dates for Congress, planned release dates for USDA reports, weekly special sections for The Packer through April and complete listings of national and regional trade events. I could have added Netflix DVD release dates or the NFL schedule but I managed to restrain myself. Hope you check it out and also send me a calendar of your associations events so I can place them on the Fresh Talk calendar, if they are not already represented.

F&V Advisory Committee - New gang

A Washington lobbyist said the latest incarnation of the USDA's Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee is reportedly set for release this week, Put a call into Jimmie Turner at AMS but he could divulge no details as of this time.

The same lobbyist wondered when Acting Secretary Chuck Conner will be named as the President's permanent appointment as Agriculture Secretary. So far Conner seems to be getting good marks from the industry. While there may be Southern lawmaker opposition based on his advocacy of stricter payment limits, Conner would seem to be a natural choice to finish out the Bush term.

There may be little love lost between the Environmental Working Group and some fresh produce industry lobbyists. The recent story in The New York Times about the farm bill process had a quote from the EWG''s Ken Cook, calling out fresh produce industry lobbyists for being a "cheap date." One industry lobbyist - not with United - said Cook's remark was out of line and EWG and specialty crop interests never had a locked up deal to work together. I put a call into Ken Cook to get his thoughts but he was out at the time.

Food safety and the farm bill

While Sen. Harkin probably would not prefer to see his produce safety legislation attached to the farm bill, one wonders if it still remains a possibility. One farm lobbyist said he doesn't think there is the political momentum to create massive changes in food safety policy. One wild card is that the food safety element may be one way to add support for the overall farm bill, though questions remain about the jurisdiction the Ag Committee would exercise over food safety issues that pertain to the FDA.

Meanwhile, Consumers Union continues to call for a single food safety agency, mandatory recall authority and more robust inspection of fresh produce producers. Here is a letter published in The San Francisco Chronicle from Consumers Union. (Memo to Consumers Union: We loved your work on the Honda Accord; fresh produce, not so much)
From CU on Oct. 5:

This week, New Jersey-based Topps Meat Company recalled 21.7 million pounds of frozen ground beef that has reportedly sickened 27 people across eight states with E. coli poisoning. Recent recalls of E. coli-contaminated Dole Hearts Delight bagged salad mix and salmonella-contaminated spinach produced by California grower Metz Fresh are among the latest in a string of tainted food reaching the marketplace in what is one of the worst years for food safety in U.S. history. It was one year ago that spinach tainted with a particularly virulent form of E. coli ended up sickening more than 200 people and killing three across 26 states. From tainted produce to chili sauce, from ground beef to peanut butter, from snack food to pet food to seafood, examples of the Food and Drug Administration's and U.S. Department of Agriculture's inability to protect the food supply - due to lack of funding, staff and political leadership - have left consumers reeling.
The failure of government to safeguard the food supply is particularly evident when it comes to fresh-cut produce, most of which is grown in California. After nearly two dozen outbreaks of microbial contamination in leafy greens over the last decade, consumers are shocked to learn that FDA's safety standards for the growth and production of the nation's salad bowl are completely voluntary. They shake their heads to learn that FDA inspects companies growing and processing salad greens on average only once every 3.9 years, and inspects only 1 percent of the foods that are imported from other countries. Most disturbing is that FDA has no authority to recall contaminated foods.
Because of these colossal failures by FDA to ensure the safety of fresh produce, consumers are forced to rely on the food industry to police itself. Industry self-regulation rarely protects consumers and self-regulating is exactly what California's leafy green industry is doing. Because of plummeting consumer confidence, the leafy green industry lost as much as $100 million in last year's deadly spinach E.coli outbreak. To plug this leak, and to avoid being regulated from outside, the industry - heavily influenced by Dole and other major players - developed its own safety standards, behind closed doors and without public comment. The industry appointed itself as the safety oversight board, including some of the very companies, such as Dole, which have been accused of marketing contaminated leafy greens. The resulting California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, which is voluntary, was presented last October as the panacea for the safety of leafy greens. But if not all leafy greens in the marketplace are subject to the same safety standards, the door remains open for contaminated produce to reach consumers, as we have seen over the last few weeks.
While our salad was being recalled, people began to get sick from Topps beef. It took 18 days for the USDA to issue a recall after Topps found the E. coli contamination. After USDA inspectors discovered inadequate safety controls at the Topps plant, the recall was expanded back a full year of production. A recall that is retroactive a year means that consumers might have already eaten much of the tainted hamburger.
At a time when public confidence in the safety of the food supply is extremely low, Congress is considering legislation as part of the Farm Bill that would provide potentially weaker safety oversight of the meat industry. The measure would allow small producers that ship their products out of state to forgo the federal inspection program in favor of state inspection programs. Moving to state inspections has the potential to result in more contamination problems, if state inspections turn out to be less rigorous, in practice, than the federal meat inspection.
Furthermore, no state has the authority to institute a recall of adulterated meat that has been shipped to another state. Congress is holding a number of hearings focusing on food safety. New legislation aimed at securing the safety of the food supply could well take the path of other food safety proposals of late, languishing from lack of political traction. Lawmakers should change this trend and act decisively and immediately to give the FDA and the USDA mandatory recall authority to remove tainted food from the marketplace. Furthermore, Congress should establish a single food safety agency to ensure better safety of our nation's food supply, with substantial resources to hire more inspectors and enforce Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS) and Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs at every farm and every processing facility. GAPs and HACCPs are generally recognized food safety
procedures and principles developed by academia, industry or government that are not universally enforced.
Until the highest safety standards are rigorously enforced by a single agency that has robust, mandatory authority to inspect food, farms and processors, and to recall contaminated foods from the marketplace, consumers should not stop worrying about the safety of their meal.
Elisa Odabashian is the director of the West Coast Office of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports