Cornucopia

A time for for all of us to give thanks, and most especially sweet potato and cranberry growers......From the Nov. 16 USDA National Fruit and Vegetable Retail Report:

Ads centered on Thanksgiving during this last full week before the holiday. Not surprisingly, center-of-the-plate items consisting of mostly turkey along with other poultry and meat items were the main focus of retailers. Many stores were promoting free or discounted turkeys and hams with a minimum purchase. In addition to fresh produce, most ads featured grocery items for preparing typical holiday favorites; and these included: a variety of canned and frozen vegetables, canned soups/stocks and baking ingredients. Vegetable ads eclipsed fruit ads again this week. The top items featured were sweet potatoes, cranberries, pineapple,
asparagus, and celery. All of the top items saw huge increases in activity over the previous two weeks. In addition, several other items increased significantly in activity. The most notable of these were: celery, Clementines, green beans, and mushrooms. Seasonal produce continued to be widely featured and included nuts, cranberries, hard squash, imported figs,
pomegranates, persimmons, and a variety of domestic and imported citrus. The organic counterparts were featured alongside many conventionally-grown seasonal favorites. The most visible of these were sweet potatoes and cranberries. Also, there were an abundance of holiday bouquets and plants seen this week.

Five options and 72 comments

Here is the link to the complete rule on the movement of citrus in canker infested regions from Florida. The USDA received 72 comments on the proposed rule, and held to its guns by allowing distribution of all types and varieties of commercially packed citrus fruit to all U.S. States, subject to packinghouse treatment with APHIS-approved disinfectant and APHIS inspection of finished fruit that has completed the packinghouse culling, washing, disinfection, and grading processes. Florida interests argued that political interests keep them out of citrus producing states in this rule, while citrus sources in California and Texas may believe that the USDA turned decades of phytosanitary policy on its ear to allow Florida the access it is receiving. There could be lawsuits on either side of this issue.