Registered Dietitians Learn About Grapes from California

FRESNO, California – More than 50 registered dietitians from major supermarkets
across the U.S. attended a webinar held by the California Table Grape Commission.
It was presented by Courtney Romano, registered dietitian, and Cindy Plummer,
commission vice president of domestic marketing.
Key message points included:
 California grapes are America’s local grapes.
 Grapes of all colors contain a mix of polyphenols and antioxidants, including
resveratrol.
 99 percent of primary shoppers prefer grapes from California.
 Grapes are a healthy snack.
The webinar titled, “Straight from the Vine – A Healthy Cluster of Nutrition Research,
Consumer and Retail Strategies,” complements the annual What’s in Store event for
supermarket dietitians that the commission is co-sponsoring on September 24 in San
Diego.
“Working with supermarket health professionals is a good way to reach consumers at
the retail level,” said Plummer. “It also helps build relationships and credibility with
retailers.”
The webinar included an overview of the California table grape industry, a look at the
importance of grape health benefits and a review of the commission’s health and
consumer research. The dietitians received continuing education credit for attending
the webinar.
The California Table Grape Commission was created by the California legislature in
1967 to increase worldwide demand for fresh California grapes through a variety of
research and promotional programs.

ANLA Testifies Before Congress on Failed Worker Program Hearing Underscores Lack of Legal Worker Options for Farm, Seasonal Employers

Washington, D.C.— Joe Bailey, of Bailey Nurseries, St. Paul, MN, testified on September 13 before the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Worker Protections. His testimony, presented on behalf of the American Nursery & Landscape Association, briefed Congress on the labor situation confronting U.S. specialty crop agriculture and the nursery industry just as the House Judiciary Committee is taking up a bill that would make the federal E-Verify program mandatory for all employers.

Bailey described how his 106 year-old nursery has survived through the worker shortages of World War II, immigration audits and a raid, attempts to use H-2A, and E-Verify. He described in detail how with the unresponsive H-2A program, workers often failed to show up when needed for a highly seasonal business where six spring weeks are crucial. He also explained extensive efforts in 2011 to recruit American workers for seasonal jobs. The nursery needed 500 seasonal workers, yet was only able to hire 350, many of whom didn’t stay through the season.

Bailey wasn’t the only hearing witness critical of H-2A, and the Department of Labor’s (DOL) hostile administration of the program. Libby Whitley Fulton, who runs a private Virginia company that assists employers in using the program, described the startling results of an
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extensive research project commissioned by the National Council of Agricultural Employers.  Even though H-2A only supplies between three and five percent of U.S. farms’ labor needs, users reported losses totaling $320 million due to failures and limitations of the program. Grower appeals of arbitrary DOL denials have skyrocketed from a long-term annual average of 18, to nearly 450 in 2010. When challenged, DOL lost 90 percent of these appeals. A summary of the research can be found at http://www.ncaeonline.org/files/ALRP2011_brochure.pdf

Education and Workforce Committee chairman John Kline (R-MN) states, as he questioned DOL’s official witness, “You are having a worse than chilling…a freezing effect,” on those trying to use the program to ensure a legal workforce. Kline went on to say that DOL’s administration of the program is not only hurting H-2A workers, but also their American counterparts. In Bailey’s case, a seasonal workforce of 900 supports 500 full-time, year-round American jobs that will disappear if seasonal labor needs are unmet. 

The hearing came just as House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) announced that his committee will take up his E-Verify legislation on September 15. He also plans to take up H.R.2847, legislation that would make some improvements to H-2A. However, producer groups including the Agriculture Coalition for Immigration Reform believe that improvements to H-2A will be woefully inadequate to meet their labor needs if E-Verify screens out 50 to 70 percent of experienced agricultural workers. “Even a vastly improved H-2A cannot bridge the chasm between the current legal workforce, and the workforce needed to keep American-produced food on American tables,” said Craig Regelbrugge, ACIR national co-chairman. Offshoring of production, jobs, and economic activity to foreign countries will result, he added. 

Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) plans to offer an alternative approach, H.R.2895, or the Legal Agricultural Workforce Act. It would create a new agricultural worker visa program that is considerably more flexible and market-based than the flawed and outdated H-2A model. “If a company like ours, one of the largest and most sophisticated in our industry, cannot make H-2A work, something is very wrong,” said Bailey. “Agriculture needs a legal labor safety net program that actually works.”  Bailey’s full written testimony can be viewed at www.ANLA.org. 

SECRETARY VILSACK TELLS FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO GET NOTICED

SECRETARY VILSACK TELLS FARMERS AND RANCHERS TO GET NOTICED

INTRO: Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack addressed a gathering of farmers and ranchers in Washington, D.C. and told them to get lawmakers’ attention. The USDA’s Bob Ellison has more. (1:46)

AGRICULTURE SECRETARY TOM VILSACK SAYS FARMERS AND RANCHERS HAVE TO WORK HARD TO GET NOTICED IN TODAY’S AMERICA. MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL FARMERS UNION AT U-S-D-A HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON D-C, VILSACK ANSWERED A QUESTION ABOUT HOW TO GET LAWMAKERS TO PAY ATTENTION TO RURAL AMERICA.

Morgan Hartman, Farmer, New York: How can we kick the shins to grab the attention better of our elected representatives to let them know they work for us?

Tom Vilsack, Agriculture Secretary: The first thing we have got to do is we have to educate the rest of the country about the significance and the importance of what farm families do and what rural communities do for the entire country.

VILSACK SAID THERE IS A LACK OF APPRECIATION IN THE U-S FOR FARMERS AND RANCHERS.

Vilsack: America has an extraordinary, extraordinary advantage over the rest of the world because we have the capacity to produce everything we need to feed ourselves. That’s not true of very many other countries in the world. Whenever people walk out of the grocery store in this country they walk out with more money in their pockets as a percentage of their paycheck than virtually anybody else in the world.

AND VILSACK SAID WITHOUT THE PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY OF U-S AGRICULTURE THAT EXTRA MONEY WOULD NOT BE SPENT IN OTHER PARTS OF THE ECONOMY.

Vilsack: So if we want our folks, our political leaders to understand the significance of what you all do and to support it adequately the ninety nine percent of us who don’t understand what you all do have got to understand how important that one percent is.