The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will conduct a referendum May 8-30, 2023, for pear growers to vote on whether to continue their federal marketing order. Growers who produced pears in Oregon and Washington between July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022, are eligible to vote.
The marketing order enables the Oregon and Washington pear industry and the Fresh Pear and Processed Pear Committees to conduct production and marketing research and promotional initiatives, including paid advertising, under USDA’s oversight. The committees administer the marketing order, which requires a continuance referendum every six years to determine growers’ level of support for the program.
USDA would consider terminating the marketing order if fewer than two-thirds or more of the growers voting in the referendum, and two-thirds or more of the volume represented in the referendum, vote in favor of continuance.
Notice of the referendum was published in the Federal Register on April 7, 2023.
The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will mail ballots and voting instructions to all growers of record. Eligible growers who do not receive a ballot by May 8 may request one by contacting Dale Novotny at DaleJ.Novotny@usda.gov or by phone at (503) 326-2724. Requests may also be mailed to USDA, AMS, 1220 SW 3rd Avenue, Suite 305, Portland, Oregon 97212.
More information about this marketing order is available on the AMS 927 Oregon and Washington Pears webpage. More information about federal marketing orders is available on the Marketing Orders and Agreements webpage or by contacting the Market Development Division at (202) 720-2491.
Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937 as amended, marketing orders are industry-driven programs that help producers and handlers achieve marketing success by leveraging their own funds to design and execute programs that they would not be able to do individually. AMS provides oversight to fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop marketing orders to ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
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