The North American Produce Transportation Working Group (NAPTWG) has released best practice guidelines for the transportation of produce. The document integrates multiple existing transportation guidelines into one best practices document that can be used throughout North America to provide guidance for seamless product movement and to ensure the ongoing vitality of the carrier sector. The guidelines were reviewed and endorsed by the Blue Book and the Dispute Resolution Corporation (DRC) to ensure compliance with industry trading guidelines for North America.

The 25-member NAPTWG represents fresh produce transportation stakeholders from associations and industry groups across North America. The working group is chaired by David Dever, United Fresh Board of Directors member and president and CEO of Sun World International. Dan Vaché, United’s vice president of supply chain management, also provides leadership for the working group.

“The new guidelines represent an incredible volume of work by industry associations and produce organizations involved in the transport of fresh produce,” said Dever. “We all know how crucial ensuring the vitality of our carrier industry is to the long-term viability of the North American produce industry, and this is one tool to support that.”

The NAPTWG compilation of best practice guidelines is intended to be an evolving resource to guide efficiency in produce transportation. The document is available free of charge to the produce industry and carriers at www.naptwg.org.

For more updates from Inside United Fresh, visit their website.

Tifton, GA – Some South Georgia farmers are having a tough time finding local and migrant workers, which some blame on the new immigration law.

“It’s been a tremendous drop in the amount of workers we have state of Georgia. We’ve also had a $140 million dollar loss last year because of the loss of workers,” said farmer Bill Brim.

Under the new law, employers with 500 or more employees will have to use a federal database called E-Verify to check the employment eligibility.

That puts farmers like Brim in a bind, who now have to rely on an assistance program called H-2A.

The H-2A program allows agricultural employers who anticipate a shortage of domestic workers to bring nonimmigrant foreign workers to the U.S.

Farmers say they want domestic labor, but most domestic workers aren’t prepared for the strenuous duties.

“If they are physically able to do it then we’re glad to hire them. We don’t mind hiring domestics. We like hiring domestics because it’s less money for us to bring people over from Mexico, but they have to be productive workers for us to hire them,” said Brim.

Brim and other farmers say they have been in contact with state lawmakers to improve the assistance program because if not the state will see a trickledown effect.

“Some are planting less crops and that affects a lot of people because now the John Deere dealership doesn’t sell as many tractors, the seed dealers don’t sell as many seeds, there’s less demand for fertilizer so when the farmer cuts back on the product they produce because they can’t find enough workers to harvest that, It affects everybody,” said the President of AgWorks H2 Dan Bremer

Farmers just want something to happen soon not only for the sake of their farm but the community as a whole.

Copyright 2012 WALB. All rights reserved.

The SE Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference held on January 5 -8, 2012 at the Savannah International Trade and Convention Center in Savannah, Ga., reports a record number of attendees this year, with an increase of more than 15% over 2011 attendance. According to Charles Hall, Executive Director of Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, almost 2,700 growers, exhibitors, educators and legislators attended the 2012 show, making this the 12th consecutive year for conference attendance growth. The conference had 583 attendees in 1999 when it first opened.

“The 2012 SE Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference was a tremendous success. Our numbers increased dramatically this year and we welcomed an additional 350 attendees over last year’s numbers. The quality of our educational sessions, combined with an excellent assembly of vendors at the trade show, made this an event that could not be missed,” said Dick Minor, GFVGA President. “We appreciate the continued support of everyone that joins together to make this event a success.”

The four-day event, sponsored by the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association and the Georgia Peach Council, offered over 90 hours of commodity specific production training, pest management information and marketing updates. Commodities included peach, vegetable, Vidalia onion, watermelon, muscadine, blueberry, strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, olive and pecan. Continuing education credits were available. Additionally, the Georgia Agritourism Association held their annual meeting in conjunction with the event. The 2012 SE Regional Trade Show was sold-out and featured over 200 vendors, providing attendees with the opportunity to compare products, talk with industry representatives, observe demonstrations, network with other growers and learn about the latest in fresh produce technology.

The 2013 SE Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference is scheduled for January 10-13, 2013 in Savannah, Ga.

For more information please contact Charles Hall at (706) 845-8200 or chall@asginfo.net.

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About GFVGA
GFVGA is a trade association representing farmers producing fruits and vegetables in the southeastern United States. The organization provides a viable and united voice to represent the industry. Through support for educational programs, agricultural research, member services and marketing activities GFVGA encourages efficient, cost effective production for growers and increased consumption by consumers.

GFVGA is managed by Association Services Group, a professional management firm with offices in Atlanta and LaGrange, GA, and is accredited by the Association Management Company Institute

Georgia Agricultural Commodity Commission for Vegetables

Room 328 Agriculture Building

Atlanta, GA  30334

404-656-3678 Phone

404-656-9380 Fax

MEMORANDUM

TO:                  Vegetable Commission Members and Advisory Board Members

FROM:            Bo Herndon, Chairman

RE:                  Meeting Notice

DATE:                        December 1, 2011

The ACC for Vegetables will meet on December 7, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. The meeting will be held in the NESPAL Conference room-UGA Tifton. The address is 2360 Rainwater Rd. Tifton, GA.  If you go to in the doors on the North side of the building (off the arched

Drive, where the flag pole is) the conference room is across the hall just to the left of the doors.

If you have a conflict and cannot attend please let me know.

I look forward to seeing each of you there.

Over the last several months the Chairs and Ranking Members of the U.S. House and Senate Agriculture Committees crafted a proposal that would save $23 billion dollars in Farm Bill expenditures over the next 10 years.  The concept was to offer up cuts the Agriculture Committees felt would be appropriate rather than leave this in the hands of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to dictate the programs and amounts to be cut.  Most agricultural organizations supported this concept, rather than take a chance on more drastic cuts from the Joint Deficit Committee. 

For the Specialty Crop Industry, the Ag Committee proposal was actually an increase for some programs.  Under the Ag Committee proposal the Specialty Crop Block Grant program would be increased from $55 million per year to $70 million per year with provisions for multi-state grants. In addition the Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI) was recommended to continue funding at $40 million per year.  Under the 2007 Farm Bill the SCRI was funded for only five years and without an extension in the new Farm Bill the program will be eliminated. 

Dick Minor, President of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, said, “We were very pleased to see the Ag Committees leadership take this pro-active position as it relates to agricultural program funding and protecting as much as possible during the ‘deficit reduction program hunt’.  We were extremely happy with the increases in the key programs that are very important to Georgia producers like the Block Grants and the Specialty Crop Research Initiative.”

Unfortunately all of the hard work by the Ag Committee congressional leadership and other organizations were not rewarded when the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction failed to do their job.  On November 21, the Joint Committee announced they could not reach an agreement on the $1 Trillion dollars in cuts it was charged with recommending.  With the Joint Committee’s failure to reach agreement, the Ag Committee’s recommendations will not be carried forward.  It appears each committee will begin Farm Bill hearings in early 2012 and a normal process will be followed. 

Rep. Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee, released the following statement in response to the announcement that the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction has failed to reach an agreement.

“House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders developed a bipartisan, bicameral proposal for the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that would save $23 billion. However, the Joint Select Committee’s failure to reach a deal on an overall deficit reduction package effectively ends this effort. We are pleased we were able to work in a bipartisan way with committee members and agriculture stakeholders to generate sound ideas to cut spending by tens of billions while maintaining key priorities to grow the country’s agriculture economy. We will continue the process of reauthorizing the farm bill in the coming months, and will do so with the same bipartisan spirit that has historically defined the work of our committees.”

For more information contact the GFVGA office at 1-877-99GFVGA or chall@asginfo.net.