The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced today that a three-year phased increase of civil monetary penalties to the maximum amounts provided for by a rule on Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustments will begin Jan. 1, 2022.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced the appointment of three producers to the Christmas Tree Promotion Board. Each member will serve a three-year term expiring on December 31, 2024.

Newly appointed members are:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is offering current Domestic Commodity vendors an opportunity to participate in a live, on-line training session on “Enhancements to the Electronic Invoicing Process” in the Web-Based Supply Chain Management (WBSCM) System. The schedule for the three virtual training sessions via Zoom is below:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominations of qualified watermelon producers and handlers for eight seats on the National Watermelon Promotion Board. Appointees will be selected by the secretary of agriculture and will succeed members whose terms of office expire on Dec. 31, 2022.  Appointed members will serve a three-year term.

Nominees are needed to fill two producer seats and two handler seats in District 4 and District 5.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the appointment of eight members to the Hass Avocado Board. Two producers, two producer alternates, two importers and one importer alternate were appointed to serve three-year terms expiring on October 31, 2024. An importer was appointed to fill one vacant importer alternate seat and to serve the remainder of the term which expires on October 31, 2022.

Newly appointed members and alternates are: