USDA Seeks Nominees for Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominations from specialty crop stakeholders to serve on the Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee (FVIAC).  The deadline for nominations is Sept. 3, 2024

The Secretary of Agriculture will appoint up to 25 individuals, for two-year terms, to succeed members whose terms expire Oct. 28, 2024. 

External Analysis Reports: Assessing Commonalities Across Organic System Plan (OSP) Templates

This report represents the findings of a comprehensive analysis project aimed at evaluating the relative alignment of Organic System Plans (OSPs) with the National Organic Program (NOP) standards. A question item analysis was also conducted as part of the overall data analysis process by examining the structure of individual questions within each OSP and evaluating their alignment to established question-structure best practices in an effort to gauge how accessible individual OSP questions are to the average user.

USDA Issues Recommended Decision Proposing Amendments to all Eleven Federal Milk Marketing Orders

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today issued a Recommended Decision on its website proposing to amend the uniform pricing formulas applicable in all 11 Federal milk marketing orders (FMMOs). The Recommended Decision follows a 49-day national hearing held from August 23, 2023, to January 30, 2024, in Carmel, Indiana, where USDA heard testimony and received evidence on 21 proposals from the dairy industry. 

Pecan Industry Votes to Continue Research and Promotion Program

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that pecan producers and importers voted to continue the American Pecan Promotion Board’s research and promotion program.

In the referendum held May 10 through June 10, 2024, 74.89% of pecan producers and importers voted in favor of continuing the program. This meets the requirement that the majority of those voting were in favor of the program continuing.

U.S. Grade Standards for Pecans in the Shell and Shelled Pecans

Docket Number: AMS-SC-21-0039
Effective Date: July 26, 2024

Summary

The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is revising the U.S. Standards for Grades of Pecans in the Shell and the U.S. Standards for Grades of Shelled Pecans by replacing the current grades with U.S. Extra Fancy, U.S. Fancy, U.S. Choice, and U.S. Standard grades. In addition, AMS is updating terminology, definitions, and defect scoring guides.

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