Bogged down

No hopeful words of a breakthrough on the farm bill yet, despite amped up lobbying efforts by many in the agriculture industry to press the Senate to finish their work.

From Reuters this afternoon:

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will call on Wednesday for a Senate vote to limit debate on the $286-billion farm bill, an aide said, in hopes of passing the deadlocked agriculture bill this year.

That means senators would vote on Friday on whether to limit debate to 30 hours on the wide-ranging bill, an aide to the Nevada Democrat said.

Historic words

Here is the official release from the USDA about revisions to the WIC food packages for the first time in about 30 years. From the office of the Chuck Conner:

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 - Acting Secretary of Agriculture Chuck Conner today announced publication of an interim final rule revising food packages provided by the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) for the first time in nearly three decades.

"We're pleased to announce today that the new food packages, based on the Dietary Guidelines, will include fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which are essential to a healthier diet," said Acting Secretary Chuck Conner. "The addition of these foods better reflect the needs of over 8 million low-income mothers and children in the WIC program. The new food packages are designed to improve the nutrition and health of our nation's low-income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and young children with nutrition education, and more fruits, vegetables and whole grains to greatly improve dietary quality," added Conner.

The interim final rule, issued by USDA's Food and Nutrition Service, will be published Dec 6 in the Federal Register. It largely follows recommendations made by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in the final report of its review of the WIC food packages, WIC Food Packages: Time for a Change, as well as the latest nutrition science and the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Under the interim final rule, the food packages are revised to add new foods including fruits, vegetables and whole grains, while amounts of some current foods are modified.

WIC provides low-income pregnant, breastfeeding, and postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five with nutritious supplemental foods. The program also provides nutrition education and referrals to health and social services. More than eight million participants receive WIC benefits each month, with a federal investment of over $5 billion in FY 2006. WIC food packages were first designed in 1974 to supplement participants' diets with foods rich in five nutrients-vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, and protein-because those nutrients were lacking in the diets of the WIC target population.

WIC rule is out

The interim rule establishing fruit and vegetable vouchers in WIC food packages will be published tomorrow. Also tomorrow will be a reception at the USDA celebrating the new WIC food packages. Congratulations to all who worked to make this happen, including dedicated public servants at the USDA and the cadre of industry and nutrition advocates who favored the long-needed change. Lorelei DiSogra has been very active on this issue, of course, and she noted United has secured a copy of the 110-page WIC rule. (interested parties are routinely allowed to see a rule on display and make a copy of it one day prior to its publication in the Federal Register) Much to follow from United and others on this watershed rule, which I will try to publish to the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group by later today. One downer; we do know that white potatoes are excluded; the vouchers can purchase any combination of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, excluding white potatoes.

Below is a Food Research and Action Center communication about the interim rule:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture's regulations for the new and improved WIC food packages became available today. The new WIC food packages improve the health and nutritional quality of the foods in the program, increase participants' choices, and expand cultural food options by offering fruits and vegetables, whole grain bread (with the option to substitute whole grain tortillas, rice or other grains) and the option of soymilk and tofu.

The addition of whole grains, a move to low-fat milk and the choice of a full range of fruits and vegetables strengthen WIC’s role in reducing obesity and improving nutrition. These reforms in the packages will empower mothers to choose healthy foods not only by providing resources but also by improving the availability of healthy foods in low-income communities. Farmers’ Markets can be allowed as WIC vendors for fruits and vegetables using WIC Farmers’ Market procedures or other special vendor rules.

USDA also included important related changes that ensure clients have access to the full amounts of appropriate WIC foods. In addition, new food package enhancements will better promote breastfeeding and expand support for medically fragile participants.

One shortcoming is that, by continuing to use self-imposed cost restraints, the Administration left the recommendations short of the full amount of fruits and vegetables and the option of yogurt recommended by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Women will receive $8 and children $6 in fruits and vegetables each month, $2 less than IOM recommended. Only the small category of exclusively breastfeeding women will receive the full $10 in fruit and vegetable vouchers.
The next step is to make sure that the new WIC food package changes work “on the ground,” including in communities where accessing healthy food often raises unique challenges. States will have 18 months to plan and implement the new WIC food packages. It is important to bring together a diverse group of stakeholders to help implement these changes in each state. The development of state WIC advisory councils, for example, can provide information and recommendations that ensure clients benefit fully from the new food package.

To learn more, see www.frac.org for up-to-date information, including a summary, a WIC advisory council fact sheet, and the value of the fruits and vegetables coming into your state. Tomorrow, we will link our website to the regulations when they are published in the Federal Register.

Contact: Geri Henchy (202) 986-2200 extension 3025, ghenchy@frac.org , Food Research and Action Center

To find out how to help maximize the value of the new WIC food packages in your state or community join us for the upcoming FRAC conference March 2-4, 2008 for panels and discussion on WIC food package planning and implementation.

Policy wonks love it here

By here, I mean the USDA's new database on nutrition program and food assistance research by the Economic Research Service. From the Web site:

The Food Assistance and Nutrition Research Program (FANRP) supports a broad spectrum of food and nutrition assistance research. ERS has compiled an electronic database of the hundreds of peer-reviewed reports and articles based on FANRP-supported research published at ERS and elsewhere. The database is searchable by:

* Title, lead author, topic, year of publication, and data set analyzed
* Exact word(s) or phrases contained in the publication’s bibliographic citation

TK: For example, the database pulls up 57 data sets/studies relating to obesity. What did we do before the PC anyway?

Clementine market look in

The USDA is reporting an f.o.b. for California clementines this year and the Dec. 4 f.ob. showed cartons of four 5-lb containers with an f.o.b. range of $17.20-$18.40, which has been steady since mid-November. Meanwhile, the f.o.b. for 5-pound cartons of Spanish clementines in the Philadelphia region has been steady at $4.50-$4.75 for the last few weeks. As reported earlier by Andy Nelson of The Packer, Spanish clementine shipments to the U.S. were off last season's pace because of a more competitive market in Europe and the weak U.S. dollar. Shipments of Spanish clementines to the U.S. through early December were reported by the USDA at 42.5 million pounds, down from 55.7 million pounds the same time a year ago.

Trending higher - broccoli and cauliflower

Pro*Act reports in its Dec. 3 Market Report that the broccoli market is finding strength and is moving higher, partly fueled by demand for processed broccoli. The report said quality is expected good from all districts, though there are some signs of "branchiness, knuckling and purple cast" in the broccoli.

Meanhwhile, Pro*Act noted Dec. 3 that the cauliflower market was also firming, with quality good and carton weights ranging from 28 pounds to 32 pounds.