Impact of Mexico's tariffs and other headlines

A critical story right now revolves around the tariffs imposed by Mexico in its trucking dispute with the U.S. The USDA FAS just issued a report that offers some analysis of the issue from the FAS post in Mexico City. Find the report. here. From the report:

 

These new duties will have a significant affect on U.S. exports, especially the 45 percent that has been placed on grapes. Most of the imported fruit from the United States that will be affected originate from the states of California, Washington and Oregon with an approximate value of $170 million in 2008. Furthermore, according to traders, a decrease of imported fruit was already  expected due to the depreciation of the Mexican peso.However, the United States is expected to remain Mexico's main supplier of many of these products. Look for more Packer coverage this week on this blockbuster story.

 

Also, note this coverage from Reuters on the issue, where Secretary of State Clinton expresses some optimism about resolving the issue - if months from now.

 

 

 

Other headlines snatched from the Web:

 

Obama and climate change: we'll get it done NYT

The president did not offer a timeline for when he wants to sign the energy and climate law. And he also did not mention possible federal regulations for greenhouse gases at U.S. EPA under a nearly two-year-old Supreme Court precedent that requires the agency to issue emission control rules should it determine that climate change threatens public health or welfare.The White House Office of Management and Budget last Friday started its review of a proposed EPA finding that makes that very connection Greenwire, March 23).

EPA a green political tool Gerson Lehrman

In summary, EPA is becoming irrelevant and only a concerted effort by all leading scientific institutions - without any political alignments  - together with all energy consuming countries of the world can establish common ground rules for CO2.  The global adherence to those rules would keep the US competitive in the world market as well as all other parties signing on to the new climate rules.  

 

Back of the box classics Herald Tribune

Hearken back to yesteryear recipe classics, including Dole's pineapple upside down cake

 

Card check process used by union organizers ignites fuy in iIndiana Fox News

But workers at the Dana Corporation Auto Parts plant in Albion, Ind., say the card check process has nearly torn the 50-person plant apart after harassment and intimidation from the United Auto Workers union forced them to a secret-ballot vote.

CFIA funds hort growers for food safety news Grainnews

TK: The U.S. should copy this program

Fruit, potato and hothouse produce growers who invest in field and traceability record-keeping software are now eligible to get some of that investment back, if they apply fast. The Canadian Horticultural Council said in a memo Tuesday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has granted its request to add such software and tools to its list of food safety equipment covered for reimbursement under the On-Farm Implementation (OFI) funding program

 

 

Betagro launches traceability Web site The Nation

TK: Sounds promising....

 

Fresh food giant Betagro is to allow international importers and local consumers to track the origins of its food products and the processes through which they pass by Internet before the end of this year.  As well as creating a website for the e-traceability system, the company is to provide what it calls Spy on Me kiosks at 14 Betagro shops around the country, allowing consumers to trace food products from source.

 

 

Policy group says FDA needs single food safety chief CIDRAP

For one of the next steps, the nonpartisan Trust for America's Health (TFAH) said in a report released today, Congress should put the FDA's food safety programs in a proposed new "Food Safety Administration" (FSA) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), thus splitting the FDA into separate food and drug agencies. The report also calls for increasing the FDA's food safety funding and giving it greater authority to require food companies to embrace sound prevention systems. In addition, it calls for a closer partnership between the FDA's food safety programs and the food safety epidemiology program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report, "Keeping America's Food Safe: A Blueprint for Fixing the Food Safety System at the US Department of Health and Human Services," renews and amplifies recommendations that TFAH made in a report a year ago. (See Apr 30, 2008, CIDRAP News story.) The new report was prepared in collaboration with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

 

Bloomberg: The median price for an existing, single-family detached home in California sank to $247,590 in February from $418,260 a year earlier, the Los Angeles-based group said in a statement. The U.S. median price fell 16 percent during the same period, the second-biggest drop on record, according to the National Association of Realtors