Traceability and salmonella hearings loom large

Luis of the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group notes that the anticipated traceability hearing in the House Agriculture Committee, subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture has been scheduled for 1 pm on July 30 at the Longworth House Office Building.

The topic: To review legal and technological capacity for full traceability in fresh produce.


Meanwhile, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, subcommittee on oversight and investigations has scheduled a hearing July 31. From the House Web Site:


The Recent Salmonella Outbreak: Lessons Learned and Consequences to Industry and Public Health Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Hearing10:00 a.m. in room 2123 Rayburn House Office Building



On the Senate side, there is a hearing July 23 on childhood obesity. From the Senate Health Education Committee, subcommittee on Children and Families


Title: Childhood Obesity: The Declining Health of America’s Next Generation – Part II
Date: Wednesday, July 23, 2:30 p.m.
Place: SD-430


TK: The traceability and salmonella hearings will be very important for the fresh produce trade. No list of witnesses yet, but whoever takes a turn on a panel for those two subcommittees will be asked some tough questions and be provided ample opportunity to make a defense of the industry.

Coming up

Robert Guenther of United reports that the Senate's Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act may be introduced Thursday by Sens. Larry Craig and Debbie Stabenow, with perhaps 12 and 15 co-sponsors in tow.

While funding levels are somewhat different, Guenther said the bill is still being called a companion bill to the House of Representative's EAT Healthy America Act introduced earlier this year.

Meanwhile, Guenther said that the Senate Agriculture Committee is expected to hold a hearing that will cover specialty crops, organic agriculture and other topics on Tuesday, April 24.

There also is a hearing on organic farming issues tomorrow by the House ag subcommittee on horticulture and organic agriculture, Here are the details.



Subcommittee on Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Hearing to review economic impacts of organic production, processing, and marketing or organic agricultural products
April 18, 2007
10:00 a.m.
1300 Longworth House Office Building
WITNESS LIST

Panel I
Ms. Caren Wilcox, Executive Director, Organic Trade Association, Greenfield, Massachusetts
Mr. Robert B. Marqusee, Director, Department of Rural Economic Development, Woodbury County, Sioux City, Iowa
Ms. Bea James, Category Leadership Program Manager, National Cooperative Grocers Association, St. Paul Minnesota
Mr. Mark Lipson, Policy Program Director, Organic Farming Research Foundation, Santa Cruz, California

Panel II
Mr. Manuel Vieriera, A.V. Thomas Produce, Livingston, California
Ms. Mary-Howell R. Martens, Lakeview Organic Grains, Penn Yan, New York
Mr. Scott Lively, President and CEO, Dakota Beef, LLC, Howard, South Dakota
Mr. Robert Pike, Vice President/General Manager, Braswell Foods/Glenwood Foods, Nashville, North Carolina
Panel III
Ms. Sandra Marquardt, President, On the Mark Public Relations, Silver Spring, Maryland, on behalf of Ms. La Rhea Pepper, Chief Executive Officer, Organic Essentials, Inc., O'Donnell, Texas
Mr. Lynn Clarkson, President, Clarkson Grain Company, Inc., Cerro Gordo, Illinois
Mr. Rich Ghilarducci, President and CEO, Humboldt Creamery, Fortuna, California
Ms. Nicole Bernard-Dawes, President and COO, Late July Snacks, Hyannis, Massachusetts

100 hour agenda

The new Congress will begin business this week, and there is a 100 hour agenda by the Democrats that is addressed in this story. One thing the Democrats apparently won't do is deal with the Republican appropriation bills that need approval for fiscal year 2007 funding. Instead, Congress may authorize spending for agriculture and other agencies based on 2006 levels. That means a lot of hard work by industry lobbyists to expand funding for priorities like the fruit and vegetable snack program may go for naught. That puts all the more importance on gaining some traction in the 2007 farm bill.