No idle threat

What was that line for Clint Eastwood's character in Sudden Impact? - "Go ahead, make my day." I wouldn't say President Bush wants to veto the farm bill, but he is acting a lot like Harry Callahan with a .44 of late. I'll have some coverage of Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer's speech at United for The Packer, but in general he wasn't very optimistic that the farm bill as it is now constituted has much of a chance to be signed by President Bush. I asked Schafer if the farm bill is going to fall victim to a political choice by President Bush to make a statement against excess government spending and taxes. He didn't agree with my premise and in fact suggested that Congress may be willing to override a Presidential veto on an unworthy farm bill to score political points with their constituents. Eye of the beholder...

Not so hot in Sin City

LAS VEGAS -- It sure seems like a busy city to this attender of the United Fresh Produce Association convention in Las Vegas.

But a recent story in Newsweek says otherwise.

"According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Las Vegas has seen gambling revenues fall only once since 1970: in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terror attacks they dropped 1 percent in 2002 from 2001. So far this year they've fallen 4 percent, the number of conventions held has dropped 10.4 percent, and average daily room rates were off 3.8 percent in the first two months of 2008, according to the most recent data available."

United is doing its part with the highest attendance in more than 10 years, according to incoming chairman Tom Lovelace, but FMI will be one of the conventions that is among the "dropped" after this year, as the group moves to having an expo every other year.

Attendance has been strong at both the Monday, May 5, and Tuesday, May 6, breakfast sessions, which both started at 7:30, so maybe the produce industry isn't pulling its weight late at night at the slots and gaming tables.

It could be that industry members value their hard-earned money too much to enrich the gods of Caesar and Luxor.

Tropicals from Hawaii at long last

Big Apple notes in the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group that the Federal Register has posted a long awaited rule this morning that clears the way for shipment of more irradiated tropical fruit varieties from Hawaii. From the rule, effective immediately, also published here:

SUMMARY: We are amending the Hawaiian fruits and vegetables regulations to allow mangosteen, dragon fruit, melon, pods of cowpea and its relatives, breadfruit, jackfruit, and fresh moringa pods to be moved interstate from Hawaii under certain conditions. This action will allow the movement of these tropical fruits from Hawaii to the continental United States while continuing to provide protection against the spread of plant pests from Hawaii to the continental United States.

DATES: Effective Date: May 6, 2008.

Background: On November 15, 2007, we published in the Federal Register (72 FR 64163-64170, Docket No. APHIS-2007-0050) a proposal \1\ to amend the regulations to allow mangosteen, dragon fruit, melon, pods of cowpea and its relatives, breadfruit, jackfruit, and fresh moringa pods to be moved interstate from Hawaii under certain conditions. We also proposed to amend Sec. 305.31(a) to add irradiation doses for three plant pests: Coconut scale (Aspidiotus destructor), white peach scale (Pseudaulacaspis pentagona), and Copitarsia decolora (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae).

\1\ To view the proposed rule and the comments we received, go to http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/
main?main=DocketDetail&d=APHIS-2007-0050.

TK: How much potential volume? From an earlier risk assessment:

The amount of breadfruit and jackfruit produced for Hawaiian export to the United States is unknown; however, the combined production of special Hawaiian tropical fruits, which include abiu, atemoya, breadfruit, caimito, canistel, cherimoya, durian, jaboticaba, jackfruit, langsat, loquat, mangosteen, persimmon, poha, rollina, sapodilla, soursop, white sapote, and other fruits, was 141,000 pounds (70.5 U.S. tons) (USDA-NASS, 2004c). (Note, USDA-FAS (2003) states that sea shipping containers are 40-feet in length, and hold approximately 40,000 pounds (20 U.S. tons). The anticipated volume of breadfruit and jackfruit to be shipped from Hawaii to the continental United States is estimated less than 10 containers.