 |
09/28/11Washington City IXThe current multistate outbreak of listeria linked to whole cantaloupes grown on a farm in Colorado will certainly serve to accelerate FDA’s current work on proposed food safety regulations for produce. So far thirteen people are thought to have died as a result of this outbreak, which is being tracked by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). What comes next on immigration in Washington, D.C. is in the court of the chairman of the House’s Judiciary Committee. E-Verify has passed in his committee, but Chairman Lamar Smith (Republican, Texas) has promised to hold at least one additional hearing on labor-intensive agriculture’s needs for a reasonable guest worker system. After this is all settled by the Judiciary Committee, the... |
 |
09/21/11VerifyChairman Lamar Smith (R/Texas) of the House Judiciary Committee insists that a mandatory employer E-Verify program is necessary to better control the number of undocumented workers entering the United States. This week in Washington, D.C., his committee is marking up legislation on such a new federal immigration initiative. We are working primarily through the Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform, ACIR, on this white-hot political issue. ACIR is led by Craig Regelbrugge of the American Nursery and Landscape Association, with legal counsel supplied by Monte Lake. (Mr. Lake and I worked closely together on the immigration reform bill enacted in 1986.) The immediate aim of ACIR is to prevent any legislation mandating E-Verify emerging from the committee unless the immigrant... |
 |
09/13/11UnsustainableIn our work with USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, we occasionally help out when FAS arranges official tours to the Pacific Northwest. As an example, tonight we are hosting a dinner at Yakima’s Gilbert Cellars for a group of about thirty agricultural attachés stationed at various embassies in Washington, D.C. These diplomats hail from some 21 countries ranging from the People’s Republic of China to France to South Africa. Helping to lead this week long tour through parts of Washington and Oregon is Bonnie Borris, an assistant deputy administrator at FAS, a graduate of Washington State University, and a long time friend of mine. “Sustainability” is a word I think devoid of much meaning, but one that pops up in all types of deep... |
08/29/11Washington City VIIIWhile I have never met Governor Rick Perry, who is now running for the GOP’s presidential nomination, I once was in the audience when he spoke to a Texas produce industry convention held sometime in the early 1990s. Bill Weeks, the president of the Texas Produce Association at the time, had invited me down to South Padre Island to speak on some issue or another and Rick Perry was the convention’s keynote speaker in his then capacity of Texas Commissioner of Agriculture. I remember Commissioner Perry, understandably given his audience, touting the virtues of Texas fruits and vegetables and the need to support these local crops. He underscored his point by saying that he had even learned to his deep disbelief and concern that some Texas school districts were actually... |
|
 |
08/16/11Washington City VII● A primary will be held in Oregon on November 8, followed by a special election next January 31, for the position in the House of Representatives once held by David Wu. The 1st district, which includes Astoria, Cannon Beach, McMinnville, and parts of urban Portland, has been a safe Democratic seat. Mr. Wu resigned from Congress on August 3 when his continued public service became politically untenable due to bad personal behavior.● Every August, Congressional aides escape Washington, D.C., and travel back to their political chief’s district or state to hear the latest advice and concerns from constituents on the ground. Two examples of such annual summer forays are separate visits to our office planned over the next few weeks by Paul Wolfe, an aide to U.S. Senator Maria... |
 |
08/10/11Washington City VI● Senator Patty Murray (D/Washington) is one of twelve members of Congress to be appointed to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (JSC). She will serve as co-chair of the committee, after her appointment yesterday by Majority Leader Harry Reid. The other co-chair of the JSC is Jeb Hensarling (R/Texas), as named today by Speaker John Boehner. The nation’s political spotlight will be on Senator Murray and Representative Hensarling as the JSC works to achieve bipartisan agreement on specific measures to bring the nation’s fiscal house in some semblance of order. $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction recommendations is expected of the JSC by Thanksgiving Day.● Mark O. Hatfield died on Sunday at age 89. The former U.S senator from Oregon, a Republican, served as... |
 |
07/26/11Who's Gone● U.S. Representative David Wu (D/Oregon) today announced that he will resign. Sexual misconduct had been alleged against the Portland-area politician, who was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1999. Aside from the distinction of being the first Chinese-American to serve in the House, I think Mr. Wu’s lasting mark on the institution will be so faint as to be imperceptible.● McDonald’s made a positive announcement today about nutrition. Gaining the immediate approval of First Lady Michelle Obama and our apple growers, this huge fast food chain pledged to do many things to improve its delivery of healthy food. One highlight: “The new Happy Meal" will automatically include both produce (apple slices, a quarter cup or half serving) and a new smaller... |
07/22/11WalmartFirst Lady Michelle Obama announced on Wednesday a frontal attack on “food deserts.” This is a trendy term within food circles for those areas of the country having limited access to nutritious foods, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. Wal-Mart was one of the big food retailers to prominently endorse the First Lady’s initiative to bring more grocery stores to underserved parts of the country. This is good news for our tree fruit growers and shippers. But what’s in it for Wal-Mart? I think it scores good general publicity points; ingratiates itself politically with the White House; and gains ammunition in its quest to crack open the big urban markets of the Northeast, where local opposition from small local stores and unions to Wal-Mart have hindered its... |
|
 |
07/16/11Washington City V● Brian Grunenfelder has been named a deputy assistant USTR for agricultural affairs. He leaves his current trade policy job at USDA/Foreign Agricultural Service effective Monday and then will start work at the Office of the United States Trade Representative in Washington, D.C. I have known and worked with the capable Mr. Grunenfelder, a graduate of Washington State University, over the span of his 27 year career at FAS.● August 1-5, I plan to be in Montreal, Canada, for my first attendance at a meeting that could only have been named by an inspired bureaucrat: The 31st Meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group of the Parties to the Montreal Protocol.” The reason for my going is methyl bromide, the chemical fumigant our industry uses for certain export programs, such as... |
 |
07/08/11Washington City IV● There have been glimmerings of activity this week on the long-stagnate immigration front. The Agricultural Coalition for Immigration Reform (ACIR) held a conference call to discuss an initiative by Representative Dan Lundgren (R/California) that would attempt to provide agricultural employers with a new legal way to acquire needed immigrant labor. The proposed flexible program would be administered by the Department of Agriculture, not Labor. This is being considered against the dark background of the House Judiciary Committee’s present thrust to achieve E-Verify, an immigration enforcement program opposed by most employers. More discussions on Mr. Lundgren’s initiative are set for next week.● Word of the welcomed progress toward resolving the NAFTA cross-border... |
