Lillie Weiya Zeng, Marketing Specialist, Marketing Orders and Agreements Division
Twenty-nine fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop industries solve marketing challenges through Federal marketing orders administered by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
A key resource for industries’ success: USDA marketing specialists working directly with each marketing order committee to serve as a local contact for USDA services. Industry-nominated committees manage the day-to-day operations of their marketing orders. Each committee has a dedicated USDA specialist to provide oversight and help navigate various regulations.
“Through the marketing order, we’ve brought our regional product to the national stage. We rely on USDA’s guidance on our promotional campaigns and quality standards. As a result, we have stronger brand recognition which turns into increased sales,” said Bob Stafford, Manager, Vidalia Onion Committee.
USDA oversees marketing orders through its Marketing Order and Agreement Division (MOAD) which has regional field offices located in California, Oregon, and Florida so specialists can interact in-person with committees efficiently and effectively.
“It’s important to work one-on-one with the committees to find marketing order solutions to reach consumers,” said field specialist Abigail Campos, lead specialist for the Vidalia Onion and Citrus Administrative Committees.
Abigail joined the Southeast Marketing Field Office in Florida two years ago right out of graduate school. “Working at USDA fit my background in agriculture perfectly,” said Abigail, a native of the agricultural community in Brawley, California.
In her role as a marketing specialist, Abigail ensures committees’ advertising and promotional campaigns provide truthful and factual representations of the commodities thereby improving consumer confidence. She recently reviewed and helped align the Vidalia Onion Committee’s new promotional campaign with Federal Trade Commission and agency guidelines.
Committees may also appeal to consumers by establishing minimum size, grade, quality, maturity, and/or pack requirements for all product going to market. Marketing orders can also require quality inspections to ensure respective industries meet those requirements. This added assurance improves consumer confidence in the quality of the commodity.
“It seems so basic, but these regulations are critical to our industry and help generate repeat purchases,” said Jim Ehrlich, Area II Executive Director, Colorado Potato Committee. “It’s great to know that USDA specialists can help us update our requirements as consumer or industry demands change.”
Just last year, the Area II Colorado Potato Committee revised the grade requirements for Size B red potatoes. The food service sector was generating increased demand for red potatoes, especially institutional grades, but the marketing order’s minimum grade requirements didn’t allow the industry to fill this void. By modifying the regulations to allow Size B, U.S. No. 2 grade red potatoes to enter the market, the industry is now equipped to meet increased demand.
Not only are MOAD’s marketing specialists knowledgeable in federal policy, many of them grew up in an agricultural region or studied agribusiness and understand the perspectives of the industry, like senior marketing specialist, Barry Broadbent, who has been involved in agriculture for more than 40 years.
“Farmers really value their independence; so when they voluntarily work together to share resources and enhance the marketability of their products, you know it’s something special,” Barry said.
Barry began working summers on a farm in Oregon and eventually became a farmer himself. He learned about marketing orders when he worked with a commodity group to put together a proposal for a marketing order for processed blackberries. Thirteen years later, Barry has shepherded countless rulemaking actions through USDA approval channels and was a key player in updating several federal regulations to reflect a legislative change for certified organic commodities.
Marketing specialists also work with committees to adapt marketing orders to their industries’ changing needs.
“Our marketing specialist helped us modernize our industry practices through the marketing order regulations. Now we have an electronic real-time system for managing data and vastly improved the industry’s ability to move olives from grower to canner to consumer,” said Alex Ott, California Olive Committee Executive Director.
To find out how you can establish a marketing order, contact Michelle P. Sharrow, Acting Director
Marketing Order and Agreement Division at (202) 720-2491 or email michelle.sharrow@ams.usda.gov.