Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Comittee - Recommendations

Passed along by Scott Danner, here is a list of Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee recommendations from their Feb. 24-25 meeting. More in-depth coverage on the way from The Packer....

1. The FVIAC recommends that USDA propose increases in Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) annual license fees in order to ensure its continued financial viability. The Committee supports PACA Branch recommendations to increase basic license fees to $995, and branch fees to $600, with a cap of $8,000.

2. The FVIAC recommends USDA amend the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) regulations to preserve PACA Trust protection in instances where sellers extend payment terms beyond 30 days in cases involving contractual default of buyers.

3. The FVIAC supports industry efforts to establish a national marketing agreement for leafy greens.

4. The FVIAC strongly supports the establishment of the USDA Fresh Cut Pilot Program for schools and urges its expansion to other commodities as soon as practicable. The Committee respectfully requests that Secretary Vilsack play an active leadership role in implementation of the program. The FVIAC strongly supports the following objectives in the reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act in 2009:

· The establishment of a National School Salad Bar policy that would encourage schools to offer salad bars and provide incentives to promote implementation.

· Increase by 35 cents the reimbursement rate for all school meals.

· Significantly expand the commodity purchase of fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables for schools.

· Allow funding for DOD Fresh Program up to $100 million per year.

· Update nutrition standards for school meals consistent with the Dietary Guidelines.

Lucas to Obama: Not so fast my friend

From the inbox, a salvo from House Agriculture Committee Ranking Republican Frank Lucas;



Today, Ranking Member Frank Lucas sent a letter to the Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, expressing great concern about the Obama administration’s position on eliminating direct payments to producers. Tuesday night, in his address to a joint session of the 111^th Congress, President Obama called for ending direct payments. This comes just days after Secretary Vilsack made a speech to a joint meeting of the National Association of Wheat Growers and the U.S. Wheat Associates Boards advising farmers that they should be thinking about developing other sources of income rather than direct payments.

“I have real concerns about this administration’s position on eliminating direct payments to our producers, which would be detrimental to their livelihoods. Our farmers and ranchers are some of the hardest working people in the U.S. and they are struggling to make a living in a difficult economy. Yet, it’s clear that both Secretary Vilsack and President Obama don’t understand the problems facing our agriculture community. And, they absolutely don’t understand how important rural communities are to our economy,” said Ranking Member Frank Lucas.

The complete letter to Sec. Vilsack is included below.

February 25, 2009

The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Secretary of Agriculture
Room 200-A Jamie L. Whitten Building
1400 Independence Avenue, S.E
Washington, DC 20250


Dear Secretary Vilsack,

It is with great concern that I write to you about the administration’s clear position on eliminating direct payments to our producers. It also seems clear that during an economic crisis, this administration is intent on helping everyone, but those who live and work in rural America. Quite frankly, I expected more from an administration that claims to champion the cause of economic recovery for all.

Last night, President Obama told the American people that they “don’t need to hear another list of statistics to know that our economy is in crisis because [they] live it every day.” That is true for our farmers and ranchers who live in rural America. They are some of the hardest working people in the country and they are, indeed, struggling to make a living every day. However, it seems that you and the Administration are not, and that you, in fact, do need to hear a list of statistics. Those statistics are called commodity prices and, in case you weren’t aware, their trends are captured on the futures market, not the stock market. To give you a recap, commodity prices have dropped significantly over the last year. And, the agriculture community has nervously watched this price drop while inputs have stayed the same or increased.

At a time when the USDA recently reported that U.S. net farm income is down 20% from last year, it is irresponsible to even think of eliminating the one stable form of support for our producers. The economic crisis that now befalls our entire country is not just limited to the East and West coasts, to the bankers and mortgage houses, but it grips the farmers and rural communities that are the backbone of this great country. Our producers use these direct payments to get credit for their whole operations. Direct payments allow farmers to show bankers and Farm Credit that they have the income to repay their loans. And, direct payments provide producers with the flexibility to respond to market signals when choosing crops.

My goal for American agriculture is simple: I want the farmers and ranchers of this country to continue to provide all Americans with the safest, most abundant food, feed, fiber and even fuel supply in the world. I do not think, especially during these dark days of our economy, it is time to be tinkering around with the most stable component of our farm safety net. It is not the time to be risking our farmers’ livelihoods to pay for the mistakes of a few in other sectors of our economy. Instead, producers need to know that they can continue to rely on direct payments as a proven and stable economic base in uncertain times.

I urge you to rethink your position on eliminating direct payments to our farmers and ranchers. As you begin your tenure as Secretary of Agriculture, it is critically important that you protect the resources and progress that we have made in the last three farm bills.

Sincerely,

Frank D. Lucas
Ranking Member

'The Onion' lampoons Whole Foods

Packer Managing Editor Fred Wilkinson here.

The satirical online newspaper spoof "The Onion" weighs in on Whole Foods' power as a kingmaker regarding food trendiness:

News In Photos

Whole Foods Transforms Another Ordinary Vegetable Into Status Symbol

Heads up: The site's decidedly off-color humor isn't to everyone's taste.

Vegetables and Melon Outlook - Feb. 25

From the USDA's Feb. 25 Vegetables and Melon Outlook:

The outlook for fresh vegetables this winter features a 5-percent reduction in acreage and reduced availability of some warm season crops like green beans and sweet corn due to a February freeze in Florida. At the same time, demand is expected to remain soft as consumers spend conservatively. Given supply reductions, the winter price outlook favors higher prices compared with the relatively low levels of a year earlier.

Plentiful supplies, strong world demand, and favorable exchange rates outweighed high domestic prices to nearly double the volume (expressed on a fresh-weight basis) of U.S. tomato product exports to 5.5 billion pounds in calendar 2008—the greatest year-to-year gain since 1973. Tomato paste export volume nearly tripled to a record-high 686 million pounds as tight world supplies focused buying interest on U.S. product.

Reflecting the smaller 2008 fall crop, U.S. potato shipments have been running below year-earlier levels. Fresh market shipments in December and January were down an average of 9 percent from a year earlier. As a result, potato prices remain strong with U.S. prices for all uses in January up 29 percent from a year earlier.

Although sweet potato production was up 2 percent from a year earlier to 18.3 million cwt, preliminary 2008 price estimates of $21.50 reflected high demand. Crop year to date (July-December) sweet potato exports were valued at $22 million, up from $17.7 million during 2007.

Fresh vegetables: The value of production for fresh-market vegetables totaled a record-high $10.4 billion in 2008, up 4 percent from a year earlier. Tomatoes replaced head lettuce (due to higher tomato prices) as the top fresh vegetable at $1.4 billion—up 21 percent from a year ago. Increases for bell peppers (up 26 percent), tomatoes (up 21 percent), and squash (up 17 percent) easily outweighed declines for chile peppers (down 21 percent), romaine lettuce (down 19 percent), and celery (down 17 percent). Fresh-market gross revenue increased just 1 percent to $5.3 billion in California, which accounted for 50 percent of the national value of freshmarket vegetables, compared with 52 percent a year earlier. Production of fresh vegetables generated nearly $1.6 billion in crop value in Florida—up 15 percent from 2007 as higher prices outweighed reduced aggregate production.

Melons: The value of melon production totaled $931 million in 2008—up 17 percent from 2007. Record-high yields pushed watermelon production higher and good demand pulled average prices up, leaving crop value up 17 percent to a record $492 million. Although the value of the honeydew crop fell 8 percent, higher prices pushed the value of the cantaloup crop up 23 percent to $371 million.

Potatoes: According to preliminary estimates, the value of U.S. potato productionrose 17 percent to $3.9 billion in 2008/09. With the season-average farm price rising 26 percent to a record 9.46 cents per pound, revenue rose in most States, with the most notable exceptions being North Dakota and Florida. With both production and price higher, production value surged 53 percent in Colorado and 45 percent in California—two States heavily dependant on the fresh market. Sweet potatoes: The estimated farm value of the 2008 U.S. sweet potato crop was $395 million—up 20 percent to a second consecutive record-high. Although output was up 2 percent, the average price was expected to rise 17 percent, with higher prices boosting value 61 percent in California and 46 percent in North Carolina.

Climate change lobbyists: An accounting

Climate change: pro or con? Plenty of both, I'd assume are accounted for in this report from the Center for Public Integrity:

The number of lobbyists seeking to influence federal policy on climate change has grown more than 300 percent in five years, with a slew of new interests from Main Street to Wall Street adding to the challenge of addressing global warming, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report, The Climate Change Lobby. The report provides a first-of-its-kind look at the universe of special interests shaping debate in the United States and how it has sharply expanded between 2003— when Congress previously voted on climate change— and 2008.

Among the report’s findings:

More than 770 companies and organizations hired some 2,340 lobbyists to work on climate change and spent at least $90 million lobbying in 2008. The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity – a group of 48 companies - topped the list of those solely focused on the issue, spending $9.95 million.

In 2003, 70 percent of the interests weighing in on climate were energy companies and manufacturers. But by 2008, those sectors made up only 45 percent of the total, despite their strong growth, because so many new interests had joined in the fray.

Finance, insurance and investment firms, with virtually no presence in the climate debate on Capitol Hill in 2003, last year had as many lobbyists as alternative energy firms— about 130. Their interest is in shaping the rules of a market-based “cap-and-trade” system.

Cities, counties and public agencies, with a handful of lobbyists in 2003, by last year had more than 100, focused primarily on how Congress might distribute potential revenue in a climate program.

Despite the huge growth in the number of environmental, health and alternative energy lobbyists, they are outnumbered by industry and other interests 8-to-1.

“This new Center for Public Integrity report shows clearly how much money is pouring into Washington on the issue of climate change,” said Center Executive Director Bill Buzenberg. “What’s also clear is how difficult it will be for the Obama Administration to get meaningful climate change legislation through Congress in the face of such an enormous lobbying push by so many special interests.”

The Climate Change Lobby features a fully searchable database of climate lobbyists, using disclosure reports filed with the U.S. Senate’s Office of Public Records, as well as brief profiles of some of the most prominent lobbyists.

With President Obama pledging to put the nation on course to an historic reduction in fossil fuel emissions, and Congressional leaders vowing to hold votes on climate this year, The Climate Change Lobby sheds new light on the challenge confronting policymakers. Some welcome the new voices to the climate debate as a sign of greater recognition of the issue’s importance throughout the economy, while others are alarmed that compromises among the myriad interests will forestall the sort of aggressive action needed to stave off catastrophe.

The Climate Change Lobby is generously supported by a grant from the Deer Creek Foundation and is part of an ongoing investigative series on “clean coal” and climate change policy issues. In addition, organizational support for the Center is provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Ford Foundation, the JEHT Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Park Foundation, the Popplestone Foundation, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and many other generous institutional and individual donors.

Radanovich reaction to President Obama's speech: vital to keep hard earned money

From the inbox last night, a Republican's awkward embrace of the speech but wariness about possible new taxes:


Congressman George Radanovich (R-Mariposa) released the following statement tonight after President Obama addressed a joint session of Congress:

“Tonight, watching Barack Obama deliver an address to a joint session of Congress is an historic moment that we all should appreciate.

“I stand with the President in his commitment to getting our economy back on track, creating jobs and confronting the challenges facing America so that we may create a brighter future for our children.

“Unfortunatly, while the President and I share many of the same goals for economic recovery and the future of America, we may not share the same means to achieve those goals. The Administration has already hinted that they wish to raise taxes on small businesses and family farms—a devastating proposal during an economic recession.

“It is vital to the recovery of our economy that Americans are allowed to keep more of their hard earned money.

“I look forward to working with the President to better the future of our nation, but the real reason behind America’s continued success will be the integrity, innovation, and strong work ethic of the American people.”

Tracking salmonella and Tesco's faulty research

Inconsistent state tracking contributed to salmonella outbreaks was the headline of the newsinferno.com story, and reference to last summer's tomato and salmonella outbreak was crafted this way:

Unified detection protocols would have also been helpful last summer when the massive Salmonella Saintpaul outbreak—first blamed on tomatoes and later on Mexican peppers—caused 1,400 illnesses, about 300 hospitalizations, and was linked to two fatalities. Testing was partly to blame in that case in which Texas—a state with over 550 confirmed cases—did not require mandatory isolate testing, said Dr. Tim F. Jones, Tennessee’s state epidemiologist and an international food illness expert, saying that “It led to a delay,” quoted MSNBC.

Salmonella causes 40,000 confirmed cases each year, but, says the CDC, is probably responsible for close to 40 times that—a stunning 1,600,000—noting that 2,500 subtypes of salmonella exist, said MSNBC. PFGE costs about $100 per test, reported MSNBC. Given the cost of some of the recent outbreaks—last year’s salmonella outbreak had early estimates at $100 million; however, that number is likely a “gross underestimate,” said Julia Stewart, spokeswoman for the Produce Marketing Association—perhaps testing is a fiscally responsible course of action.

Tesco research flaws Fresh & Easy Retail Bulletin

It also looks like an admission that Tesco will no longer be able to deliver on its big plan to revolutionise the way US consumers buy their groceries. It looks like it will have to let go of some of its earlier aims of which one was to avoid the weekly promotional game that plays a big part in the country's food industry.

Fresh & Easy had initially only used fliers to raise awareness of its stores but it now realises that they have to be distributed every week to local homes in order to continue to attract customers.

The grocer has found out the hard way that the US is the land-of-little-loyalty and this will make it much more difficult for Tesco to carve out a share of the market because much of its success in the home market is based on engendering loyalty among its customers - helped massively through its highly effective Clubcard programme.


Resolve to raise healthier kids Southtown Star

This fatty buildup of plaque within arteries feeding the brain can lead to heart attack and stroke. Considering that one in three kids in the United States is overweight or obese, this is an issue we all need to be concerned about.

Learn how to join the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's fight against childhood obesity at www.healthiergeneration.org. Here are five tips on getting your kids to play a part in a healthy family.

The argument against organic food Epi log

5 reasons: #5 You are not "sticking it to the man" by buying organic food.Funny...

Exaggeration common in climate change debate NYT

Target to take greater aim at Wal-Mart success CNNMoney

Target plans to place greater emphasis on food, health-care products, personal items and other necessities, while offering fewer discretionary items to avoid big markdowns that have hobbled its earnings.

Credit card losses mount for Target WSJ

Hundreds call on Congress to adequate fund school nutrition programs

Fresh Del Monte 4Q profit declines RTT News

Deregulation continues to haunts harbor truckers Journal of Commerce

Ways to improve food safety Manufacturing.net: Discussion of traceability

Food safety issues remain a priority for policy makers California Farm Bureau

Cincinnati.com: Chiquita wins melon lawsuit

Home prices fell 8.2 percent in 2008 on foreclosures Bloomberg

Investors fret over control over banks Financial Post

If it looks and smells like a bank takeover, it probably is Reportonbusiness.com

USA Today: Bernanke sees possible end to recession in 2009

Japan exports dive Reuters