Jimmie Turner (202) 720-8998jimmie.turner@ams.usda.govBilly Cox (202) 720-8998billy.cox@ams.usda.gov
WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2010 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture will conduct a referendum on proposed amendments to amend the federal marketing order regulating tart cherries grown in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wisconsin.
The referendum will be held Feb. 1-13, 2010, to determine support for the amendments. Ballot materials will be mailed to all known producers and processors eligible to participate in the referendum. To be eligible to vote, a grower must have produced and a processor must have processed, tart cherries during the representative period of July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009.
The proposed amendments are based on the record and evidence presented at USDA public hearings held in Grand Rapids, Mich., and Provo, Utah, in 2007. The proposals were submitted by the Cherry Industry Administrative Board, which is responsible for local administration of the order. If implemented, the proposed amendments would:
-- Authorize changing the primary reserve capacity associated with the volume control provisions of the order;
-- Authorize establishment of a minimum inventory level at which all remaining product held in reserves would be released to handlers for use as free tonnage;
-- Establish an age limitation on product placed into reserves;
-- Revise the nomination and election process for handler members on the Board; -- Revise Board membership affiliation requirements; and
-- Update order language to more accurately reflect grower and handler participation in the nomination and election process in districts with only one Board representative.
Notice of the referendum was published in the Jan. 13, 2010, Federal Register. USDA will mail ballots and voting instructions to all eligible growers and processors of record. Eligible voters not receiving ballots may request them from Kenneth G. Johnson, USDA, AMS, 4700 River Road, Unit 155, Riverdale, MD 20737; by calling (301) 734-5243; or faxing (301) 734-5275.
The amendments to the order will become effective only if approved by at least two-thirds of those growers voting in the referendum, or by growers producing at least two-thirds of the volume of tart cherries represented in the referendum. In addition, processors of tart cherries that have frozen or canned more than 50 percent of the total volume of cherries would have to vote in favor of the amendments for them to be issued.
The Tart Cherry Marketing Order authorizes volume controls that provide for a reserve pool in times of heavy cherry supplies. Under the order, reserve cherries may be released to handlers for free use; used in diversion programs; exported; or carried over as a hedge against a short crop the next year.
Authority for marketing orders rests in the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937.
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