USDA sets referendum dates for tart cherry amendments
Published
7/26/2024
USDA will conduct a referendum Aug. 26 to Sept. 16 on proposed amendments to the federal marketing order for tart cherries grown in Utah, as well as Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin.
A notice of referendum, recommended by the Cherry Industry Administrative Board, was published in the Federal Register July 19, 2024. Among the proposed amendments include modifications to the basis for calculating district representation on the board, changes to start dates for board member terms, and clarification when districts are subject to volume regulation, among others.
“The board anticipates the changes would create efficiencies in its operations,” USDA said in a statement.
The proposed amendments would become effective if approved by two-thirds of growers voting, or by those voting in the referendum representing at least two-thirds of the volume of tart cherries. Additionally, processors who have processed over 50% of the total volume of tart cherries during a representative period must also approve the amendments.
To be eligible to vote, a grower or processor in the states covered by the marketing order must have produced or processed tart cherries July 1, 2023, to June 30, 2024.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will mail ballots and voting instructions to all growers and processors of record in Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.
Eligible growers and processors who have not received a ballot by Aug. 19, 2024, may request one by calling (863) 324-3375, faxing (863) 291-8614, or mailing the request to Southeast Region Branch Office, Market Development Division, Specialty Crops Program, AMS, USDA, 1124 1st Street South, Winter Haven, FL 33880.
More information about the marketing order is available on the 930 Tart Cherries webpage on AMS’s website. Information about federal marketing orders is available on AMS’s Marketing Orders and Agreements webpage or by contacting the Market Development Division at (202) 720-8085.
Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, 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.
Article was originally published in the Michigan Farm News, a publication of the Michigan Farm Bureau Federation.
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