Web 2012
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01/02/13Potomac Precipice● The fiscal cliff legislation, H.R. 8, that passed the House last night, did so by a vote of 257 to 167. The Pacific Northwest’s delegation was in favor by 11 to 5, with “No” votes being cast by four Democrats (Blumenauer/Oregon, DeFazio/Oregon, Schrader/Oregon, Smith/Washington) and one Republican (Labrador/Idaho). ● Passage of H.R. 8 killed all hope in the 112th Congress for a new five-year Farm Bill. Instead, there will be an extension to September 30, 2013, of most of the provisions of the Farm Bill that had lapsed last fall. I think that with major fiscal budget battles in the offing in 2013, it will be difficult for the produce industry to keep the gains that were achieved in last summer’s Senate-passed version of the Farm Bill. It will... |
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12/17/12Activist Agenda● Over the past few years there has been a minor boom in publishing books critical of conventional systems of agricultural production. I try to read some of these efforts, as they do influence the opinions of urban consumers and often have an impact on public policy debates. Bet the Farm: How Food Stopped Being Food (2013) by Frederick Kaufman is one of the better-written examples of this genre. A sample: “ What has gone wrong with food? […] Modern food consciousness has been rooted in the writings of Wendell Berry, Frances Moore Lappé, Marion Nestle, Raj Patel, Michael Pollan, and Eric Schlosser, to name a few. The activist agenda has been set: slow versus fast, small versus big, nutritional versus chemical, organic versus conventional, diversity versus... |
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12/11/12Lame Duck● The 112th Congress continues to lumber towards its eventual close, with a raft of policy decisions still awaiting resolution. Most of my agricultural lobbyist friends in Washington, D.C., are deep into the mode of writing weekly or daily updates to their respective clients with variations on the recurrent theme of “It’s really complex; no one knows whether the Farm Bill or Fiscal Cliff issues will be successfully resolved by Christmas; but here are three or four plausible guesses at eventual outcomes; and be assured I’m working hard for you tracking events as they unfold on The Hill and at the White House.” ● I have decided to initiate a new occasional feature for “The Wind Machine.” It will be about a word or phrase that I view as an... |
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11/26/12My Apple Cup Runneth Over● Randy Green, a former Deputy Undersecretary of USDA and chief of staff to the Senate’s Agriculture Committee, soon will be joining a Washington, D.C., public communications firm, Watson/Mulhern, which is now on a monthly retainer by the Northwest Horticultural Council for crisis communications assistance. Mr. Green, originally from Texas and most recently with the Capitol Hill law and lobbying firm McLeod, Watkinson & Miller, is an old friend of mine. ● Senator Patty Murray (D/Washington) almost certainly will become chairman of the United States Senate’s Budget Committee when the 113th Congress convenes next January. This will be the first chairmanship of a major permanent Senate committee by a Pacific Northwest member since, I think, the days of Senator... |
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11/20/12A Peach of a Part● A bill to improve trade relations with Russia, H.R. 6156, was passed by the House of Representatives last Friday by a vote of 365-43. In the Pacific Northwest’s delegation, only one member voted no: the anti-World Trade Organization Peter DeFazio (D) of Oregon. The measure, supported by our tree fruit industry and most other agricultural and business groups, is now in the hands of the United States Senate. ● The identity of those who will join President Obama’s cabinet for the second term is a mystery that will be revealed over the next few months. Some slots are certainly open, such as at State. Others are a question mark: for example, the Special Trade Representative, a position now held by Ron Kirk. If Ambassador Kirk does return home to... |
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11/15/12Post Election● At a news conference this week, President Barack Obama expressed optimism about moving comprehensive immigration legislation next year. Notably, in this context, he included foreign agricultural labor as one of the points needing Congressional attention: “I think that the agricultural sector obviously has very specific concerns about making sure they’ve got a workforce that helps deliver food to our tables.” ● Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R/Washington) was elected yesterday, over Tom Price of Georgia, to be conference chairman of the House Republican Conference. This is one of the four top jobs on the GOP’s side of the House of Representatives. In these same leadership elections, Greg Walden (R/Oregon) won the chairmanship of the National Republican... |
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11/07/12The Election● It’s over. President Obama will have four more years to fashion policy and lead the nation. The Senate will remain under the majority leadership of Harry Reid (D/Nevada), while the House of Representatives will continue to be led by Speaker John Boehner (R/Ohio). One change in party leadership that I do expect to happen will be the resignation by Nancy Pelosi (D/California) as House Minority Leader. ● Attention in Washington, D.C., immediately pivots to the short lame-duck session of the 112th Congress, set to start on November 13. With taxation, deficit, and budget issues (the Fiscal Cliff) being of critical importance for members attending this closing session, it is difficult, but not impossible, to foresee a path toward enactment of a new five-year Farm Bill... |
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11/01/12Lincoln● The Organic Trade Association is boosting the idea of a multicommodity federal promotion and research program for organics. While a lengthy process is required by USDA before any such national program is authorized and made operational, the OTA’s initiative—which would require the collection of mandatory assessments on the organic industry—already is opposed by some Pacific Northwest shippers of organic apples. ● Chuck Benbrook, who in national agricultural political circles is well-known as a high-profile policy advocate for organic farming and sustainability, landed in late August at Washington State University. Dr. Benbrook, an agricultural economist, is now an off-campus WSU research faculty member. You may expect many controversial media releases and... |
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10/16/12Are the Apples Rotten?● November 6 will slam shut the door to the political future of many of those now running for office, while others will step lightly across election day’s threshold to new or renewed public service. Some national races of importance to agriculture that I will be watching: Iowa’s 4th, where Representative Steven King (R) faces Christie Vilsack (D), the wife of the current United States secretary of agriculture; the Montana senate race where incumbent Jon Tester (D), the author of a poorly designed amendment to the Food Safety and Modernization Act, struggles with a challenge from Denny Rehberg (R); and, the Senator Debbie Stabenow (D) race in Michigan, where it is likely, but not certain, that the chairwoman of the United States Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition... |
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10/12/12Futile and Weak● One of my more enjoyable tasks is serving on the board of advisors to the Center for Produce Safety, which is located at the University of California/Davis. A fellow CPS advisor, Brian Silbermann, president of the Produce Marketing Association, was among those honored this month by the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences at UC/Davis with its 2012 Award for Distinction. ● Less honored by UC/Davis was the agricultural college’s dean, Dr. Neal Van Alfen―another fellow CPS supporter—who after serving since 1999 abruptly resigned on August 28 apparently due to conflict with the school’s chancellor. ● Staying on the theme of awards and recognitions, it was announced this month by Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services... |
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09/25/12Jenkins Hill XI● This Sunday I plan to travel across country to attend the Washington Public Policy Conference, an annual event of the United Fresh Produce Association. I imagine that the leaders of United are quite displeased and somewhat deflated over Congress’ adjournment late last week till after the November general election. It had been expected that both the Senate and the House would be in session through the first week of October. Now WPPC’s popular “March on Capitol Hill” visits likely will be with Senate and House staff, rather than the more famous elected members. ● The public comment period has closed for the application by Okanagan Specialty Crops, Inc. for federal deregulation of its genetically engineered non-browning apples. Some... |
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09/17/12Jenkins Hill XThis month, Ellen Terpstra was named the new chief executive officer of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council. A good friend of mine since the 1980s, Ellen previously led the United States Apple Association and was a top agricultural trade negotiator at both the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the United States Department of Agriculture. Her new job is located in Washington, D.C. Almost all pending federal legislation, including the Farm Bill, will now be considered by the 112th Congress, if at all, in its postelection session. The reason? In my mind, there are two: 1) a lack of time for floor debate given that members want to be out of town and on the campaign trail, and 2) an absence of decisive legislative given the... |
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08/28/12Apple Anarchy● Four of life’s misfits have been charged in Georgia with murder and other crimes. All army personnel (one from Cashmere, Washington), the four allegedly had formed an anarchist militia group with plans to blow up a dam in Washington State and poison the state’s apple crop. Later, they would overthrow the government and assassinate the president. Setting aside the question of whether any four people would be able to overthrow our national government, it is incredible to me that the entire state’s apple crop could be poisoned. But you can be assured that refreshed attention now will be paid to food defense as called for by the Bioterrorism Act of 2002. ● Last week Russia joined the World Trade Organization, having been the last big national economy... Posted at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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08/16/12Politics● For some reason known only to cheeseheads, Wisconsin has been at the center of a number of national political stories this year, including the attempted recall of its governor by the state employee unions, Representative Paul Ryan’s selection by Mitt Romney as his running mate, and this Tuesday’s Wisconsin state primary election won by Tommy Thompson, former Secretary of Heath and Human Services, to be the Republican party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate seat now held by the retiring Herb Kohl (D). Thompson is a strong candidate and the odds now move toward a Republican pick-up of this seat in the general election. This race will help decide party control of the Senate for the 113th Congress. ● Dennis Cardoza resigned this week from his seat in the... |
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08/09/12Washington State Primary● Tuesday’s primary in Washington clarified who will be running in the general election for the state’s ten House of Representatives seats in the 113th Congress. No surprises, with four incumbent Republicans (Doc Hastings, Dave Reichert, Jaime Herrera Beutler, and Cathy McMorris Rodgers) likely to cruise to reelection this fall. Similarly, the three incumbent Democrats (Jim McDermott, Rick Larsen, and Adam Smith) should each easily win on November 6. Of the three open seats, I see in the 10th District Denny Heck (D) the clear favorite over Dick Muri (R); Derek Kilmer (D) the clear favorite over Bill Driscoll (R) in the 6th District; and a close race between Suzan DelBene (D) and John Koster (R) in the 1st District. Also the state’s U.S. Senate race is... |
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08/07/12Farm Bill V● Moving a Farm Bill through Congress this year has proved difficult. Why? Because it represents huge expenditures of taxpayer dollars (mostly on social feeding programs, such as food stamps); contains controversial environmental policy directives; incites arguments between large commodity groups based on self-interest and geography; represents “big government” to those who seek to control federal spending and influence; and is being considered in a presidential election year with the two major political parties fighting each other red in tooth and claw. My guess is that passage of a new Farm Bill has its best chance in a lame duck session. ● In late July, President Obama traveled to Seattle for a fundraiser that brought together some 200 people at... Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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07/26/12Insane Coils of Red Tape● As a result of this year’s redistricting, commercial tree fruit growers will have reason to have constituent contact with four out of the ten representatives to be sent from Washington state to the nation’s capital for next year’s 113th Congress. Each of the four districts are now held by Republicans: Jamie Herrera Beulter/3rd District; Richard (Doc) Hastings/4th District; Cathy McMorris Rodgers/5th District; and Dave Reichert/8th District. In my opinion all four of these incumbents will be reelected on November 6. The bulk of apple, pear, cherry, and stone fruits--over 200,000 acres—are in the 4th congressional district, with the 8th having about 22,000 acres. The other two districts have between 3,000 and 4,500 acres each. ● As of today 647... |
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07/17/12PMA/United● The merger talks between the Produce Market Association and the United Fresh Produce Association have failed. It appears that the break point was over who would lead a combined trade association: PMA’s board is said to have wanted its own Brian Silbermann to be the designated CEO, while United’s board favored a more open selection process. In my opinion, this is a weak reason to blow up a good idea that would have led to the elimination of one redundant national convention, and the better coordination and rationalization of produce industry efforts on a range of policy issues from food safety, to crisis management, to nutrition, to government relations, and beyond. All this positive potential was wiped out over one executive position. Meanwhile, I note that this week,... |
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07/13/12Farm Bill IV● The House Committee on Agriculture approved by a bipartisan vote of 35-11 its version of the Farm Bill late Wednesday night. H.R. 6083 now is poised to go before the full body for debate and a vote on passage. When will this happen? As soon as Speaker Boehner decides to schedule the floor time. ● Most of the issues of special interest to the nation’s fruit and vegetable sector—such as research and export promotion (MAP)—were handled satisfactorily in the Agriculture Committee’s final work. One disputed issue was the opening of USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program to “all forms.” The United Fresh Produce Association and others are upset that this will take the focus off “fresh” for this school snack... |
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07/02/12The Supremes● The Farm Bill is set to be marked-up by the House Agriculture Committee on July 13. Controversy has been sparked by both regional crop differences on policy, and the pressing need to control the federal budget. It would surprise no one if a new Farm Bill was not enacted before November 6. Floor time for actual debate and voting is scarce between now and when the elected officials break for home and the general election. ● Mexico elected a new president on Sunday: Enrique Peña Nieto of that country’s oppositional party, the PRI. Our tree fruit industry’s most important export market will be led by a person who apparently is in favor of international trade. We hope. ● The U.S. Supreme Court announced two big decisions on immigration and health... |
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06/25/12Farm Bill III● The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S. 3240, passed last Thursday by a vote of 64 to 35. Attention now pivots to the House of Representatives, where committee action on the Farm Bill will likely start the week of July 9. While great pressure for passage is being exerted by advocates of a new Farm Bill, both the demands of other important pending legislation and the scarcity of time for floor debate make getting to enactment before this fall’s general election a significant challenge. For example, the House has only 29 days scheduled between July I and November 6 for its legislative business. ● The Market Access Program (MAP) survived a spirited challenge by Senator Coburn (R/Oklahoma): his amendment to dramatically reduce MAP was defeated by a roll... |
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06/19/12Mexico● President Obama acted last Friday to help many young people—those without the correct residency papers, but otherwise clean records—to stay in our country and be employed. This bypass of Congress causes further uncertainty over how a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform package might be eventually crafted. And while it is certain to be popular with most Hispanics, a key constituency in this fall’s general election, the President’s decision is unlikely to lead to many additional legal agricultural workers at harvest time. ● On Tuesday, Mexico was invited to join the negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. TPP is one of the few significant international trade expanding negotiations now active... Posted at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2 |
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06/13/12Farm Bill II● The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S. 3240, now has over 220 floor amendments floating about it. Some of these are straight-forward policy modifications; others would kill or cripple specified USDA programs (such as the sugar program and the Market Access Program); a few seek to reign in EPA and other regulatory arms of government; some have no relation at all to farming. Working through all these in the limited floor time available for debate will be difficult. With all the necessary steps yet to be taken, including passage by the House of Representatives, it seems less than likely that a new Farm Bill will emerge prior to the end of this fiscal year, September 30. ● The only tight U.S. Senate race in this region of our country is Montana’s:... |
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06/07/12Farm Bill● The Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S.3240, today cleared its first procedural hurdle by easily surviving a cloture vote (90-8). Debate will now take place over the next few weeks on floor amendments to this measure, which includes federal funding for such things as nutrition, agricultural research, conservation, export marketing, and crop insurance. Its counterpart bill in the House of Representatives has yet to reach full bloom. ● With crop insurance being now viewed as a partial alternative to direct payments for the traditional commodity program crops, a good deal of attention will be devoted to the large costs associated with subsidizing the premiums paid by growers. While tree fruit has traditionally not been too active in the politics of crop insurance, it... |
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06/01/12A Slow Boat to ChinaThe annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association will be held at the Cascade Mountain Range resort of Suncadia, Washington, on June 9-12. Governor Christine Gregoire will host the event, which is scheduled to include on its program a roundtable discussion on agricultural trade exports featuring Ambassador Isi Siddiqui of the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Michael Scuse, USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. Taking advantage of this opportunity, a side trip to a cherry packing plant in the Yakima Valley is being planned by our industry for the Under Secretary. USDA/AMS released its latest Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Better efforts were made this... |
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05/16/12Primaries● Oregon: No surprises on Tuesday in terms of federal elections. All five members of the House of Representatives from Oregon appear to hold safe seats for reelection this fall. As with Idaho, there is no U.S. Senate seat up for election this fall. ● Idaho: The two incumbents in the House of Representatives crushed all opposition yesterday. Raul Labrador (R) of District 1 received over 57,876 votes while the winner of the Democratic primary for the same seat, Cynthia Clinkingbeard, gathered in 4,721. In District 2, Mike Simpson (R) easily deflected a Tea Party-backed primary opponent, while the Democrats chose Nicole LeFavour for the general election. The problem for Ms. LeFavour? She and her Democratic primary opponent combined for a total of 12,427 votes versus the combined... |
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05/10/12Jenkins Hill IX● Senator Richard Lugar (R/Indiana) lost his primary reelection race on Tuesday. The senator, age 80, who has capably served in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, was thus denied the chance for another six years in office. While serious public policy differences were involved in Senator Lugar’s defeat, certainly the incumbent’s age had something to do with it. Why in politics do so many officials in their eighties routinely feel the need to actively seek reelection? I think this phenomenon—which is a bipartisan affliction—is a jumble of personal ego (Who could do this job well but me?); fear of the sudden obscurity of retirement; denial of the realities of the human aging process; and, the desire to protect the careers of staffers who have... |
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04/24/12Criminal Apples● The Leonardo Academy, located in Madison, Wisconsin, released on April 19 its draft document for a “National Sustainable Agriculture Standard/LEO-4000.” This latest attempt to define the indefinable is 395 pages in length. Most major agricultural groups walked away from this process over a year ago. ● Walmart, after undertaking a number of high-profile positive public relation initiatives (including one calling for its food suppliers to be “sustainable”) over the last decade intended to counter a slew of labor and image problems, finds itself this week with a new dark cloud overhead. An allegation rolled in from this past Sunday’s New York Times that the giant retailer systematically bribed officials in Mexico in order to expand... |
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04/18/12Unite● The United Fresh Produce Association sent out its ballot for 2012 officers and board members today. This brought to mind whether United might still merge with the Produce Marketing Association. Leaders representing these two major trade associations have been quietly meeting off and on for a number of months. If a deal is to be struck, I would think it might happen around United’s convention in Dallas, set for the first week in May. While I think a merger or consolidation would be a good thing, odds remain against it happening. One major stumbling block involves the future handling and funding of government relations for the nation’s produce industry in Washington, D.C. I think government relations work can be sorted out and would hope an opportunity is... |
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04/10/12Jenkins Hill VIII● Biotechnology continues to be a contentious issue. Of note is a concentrated effort afoot by the Center for Food Safety and other advocacy organizations toward convincing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to require consumer labeling of genetically engineered food. On March 12, a letter signed by fifty-five members of Congress was sent to the commissioner of FDA supporting such a labeling requirement. Those from the Pacific Northwest signing the letter: Senators Ron Wyden (D/Oregon) and Jeff Merkley (D/Oregon), along with Representatives Jim McDermott (D/Washington), Peter DeFazio (D/Oregon), and Earl Blumenauer (D/Oregon). ● The Northwest Horticultural Council is a member of many groups that organize special annual trips to Washington, D.C. As an example, on May 8 and... |
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03/28/12Jenkins Hill VII● Wednesday, January 4, was the day set for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to publish draft rules on produce safety. It still hasn’t happened. Why? The good government reason: the interagency process, as coordinated by the Office of Management and Budget, is now ironing out kinks to the initial and complicated proposals drafted by FDA before they are sent in more polished form to the Federal Register. The cynical political reason: Politically attuned people within the Administration do not want to dump hundreds of pages of new federal regulations on American farmers just months prior to this fall’s presidential election. ● The Super Tuesday primary held in Ohio on March 6 resulted, among many other electoral results, in a defeat for Representative... |
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03/19/12Jenkins Hill VI● Last Tuesday, Mitt Romney announced his agriculture advisory committee, a group co-chaired by Senator Mike Johanns, a former USDA secretary, and Adam Putman, a former member of Congress and now commissioner of Florida’s Department of Agriculture. Interestingly, two men with close ties to Western Growers (a fruit and vegetable trade association in Arizona and California) are on the 11-person committee. Both A.G. Kawamura, a former chairman of WGA, and its current president, Tom Nassif, are backing Mr. Romney. Given that Mr. Putman has a background in Florida’s citrus industry, and Randy Russell, another appointee, currently is a policy advisor to the United Fresh Produce Association, I think the produce industry will have the ear of Mr. Romney should he survive his... |
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03/05/12Jenkins Hill V● Norm Dicks will not be serving in the 113th Congress. On March 2, Mr. Dicks (D/Washington) announced he will not run for reelection this fall and, instead, will retire after 18 terms in the House of Representatives. I have enjoyed working with a string of his very capable legislative assistants over the past three decades. My predecessor, Ernie Falk, knew him from even before, when he served in the 1970s as a top staffer to U.S. Senator Warren Magnusson (D/Washington). While Mr. Dicks represents a political district far away from the orchard lands of Washington, his office has been always welcoming to our industry’s emissaries and open to any justified pleas for help. ● Often a Congressional retirement announcement from one state’s delegation... |
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02/29/12Jenkins Hill IV● A report to Congress was issue in February by the Food and Drug Administration on its foreign office program. Some interesting facts can be gleaned from the report’s bureaucratic prose (“engage more proactively,” “paradigm shift,” “embedding of staff,” “capacity- building”, and so on, and so forth). Examples: There are 300 ports of entry for products entering the United States. While 15 percent of our food is imported, some 50 percent of our fruit is. FDA now has only 13 overseas posts, three of them in China---where a total of eight Americans oversee all food and drug exported to our shores from the Celestial Empire. ● Acronyms can facilitate communication or muddle it. There is no confusion over... |
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02/24/12Jenkins Hill 3● The United Fresh Produce Association held town hall meetings in both Wenatchee and Yakima this week. Two of its staff, Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy, and Dan Vaché, vice president for supply chain management, brought local fruit shippers current on federal policy issues and the status of the Produce Traceability Initiative. Mr. Guenther is based in Washington, D.C., while Mr. Vaché, resisting the siren song of the Capital, resides in Redmond, Washington. ● Western Growers, an association representing produce growers and shippers in Arizona and California, has named Dennis Nuxoll as its new vice president for government affairs in its Washington, D.C., office, replacing Cathy Enright, who left in October to become an executive... |
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02/22/12Jenkins Hill II● A flurry of meetings will be held in Washington, D.C., the week of March 12. I will travel back then to attend gatherings of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance; the Government Relations Council of the United Fresh Produce Association; the Minor Crop Farmer Alliance; and, finally, the Crop Protection Coalition. This heaped-up pile of meetings is the result of coordination among the various chairmen of these groups, including me, who seek to avoid duplicate travel and attendant expenses of the involved people, many of whom routinely fly to the Capital for such meetings from sites ranging from Florida to the Pacific coast. ●This week, I received word from the federal government that I have been approved for a “secret" security clearance, such being necessary for... Posted at 08:25 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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02/02/12Jenkins Hill● After two trips to Washington, D.C., in January, I am even more convinced that between a tight political calendar, partisan political acrimony, and financial chaos, almost nothing of serious policy substance will be accomplished by Congress prior to this fall’s general election. ● Suzanne Bonamici (Democrat) became the latest member of the Pacific Northwest’s congressional delegation by decisively beating her Republican challenger in a special election held on Tuesday in Oregon’s 1st District. Ms. Bonamici, an attorney and state senator, will replace David Wu (Democrat), who retired from the House of Representatives last August under a dark cloud of personal misconduct. ● The Washington State Society will hold a Congressional Reception on... Posted at 10:45 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
01/10/12The Capital● Yesterday, Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s “Blueprint for Stronger Service.” The core of this cost-cutting effort is the closure of some 259 domestic offices, laboratories, and other facilities, as well as seven foreign offices. The total cost savings are estimated by USDA to be $150 million annually. A quick scan of the closures discloses no significant adverse impacts for our tree fruit industry. Only two Foreign Agricultural Service offices are slated to shut their doors: Stockholm, Sweden, and Damascus, Syria. ● USDA is taking longer and longer to name members to its many citizen advisory committees. At bottom, these delays are usually cases—not of dropping... |
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01/06/12Senator Cantwell● Yesterday, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (Democrat, Washington) visited Yakima, with one of her stops being at the Yakima Valley SunDome for the 2012 Ag Expo. That afternoon, I joined a few invited local farmers and agricultural association representatives and met with the senator in the midst of this sparsely attended trade show. With the senator, those of us from the fruit industry stressed the need for federal help with harvest labor, irrigation water, and export markets. For the latter, we highlighted (1) the economic value of U.S. Department of Agriculture's Market Access Program, and (2) our thanks to her for votes in favor of Free Trade Agreements with Korea, Colombia, and Panama. ● Senator Cantwell, in her second full term of office, is the only senator in... |
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01/03/12New Districts● Reapportionment for federal elections based on the 2010 census will have its greatest impact in the Pacific Northwest within Washington State. Neither Idaho nor Oregon picked up a new congressional seat due to population growth, while Washington did. A new 10th District requires its own territory, which forces the existing nine districts in Washington into new political configurations. A final plan for the 2012 election boundaries was voted on New Year’s Day by the Washington State Redistricting Commission: this plan now goes to the legislature in Olympia, which is expected to accept it. What does this mean for the tree fruit industry? Currently almost all tree fruit production is concentrated in the 4th and 5th Districts, now held respectively by Representatives... |
