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,

LEGISLATIVE UPDATE To all Georgia Growers, There have been two bills introduced in the Georgia legislature dealing with immigration and undocumented workers.  Both bills would require all Georgia companies with more than 5 employees to use the Federal E-verify program when hiring new W-2 employees, including seasonal workers.  There are also other provisions in the bills imposing potential fines and criminal charges on the employer, even when the employee may have I-9 documents.    The bills, House Bill 87 (Illegal Immigration Reform and Enforcement Act of 2011), http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20112012/108553.pdf , and Senate Bill 40, http://www.legis.ga.gov/Legislation/20112012/108979.pdf, are currently moving through committee hearings. 

  Wednesday, December 1, 2010 To the Georgia Congressional Delegation, Yesterday the Senate passed the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510) by a vote of 73 to 25.  Both Senator Chambliss and Senator Isakson voted in opposition to this bill.  This bill may be coming to a vote in the House later this week.  The future direction of this bill is uncertain at this time.     The Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA) urges you to vote NO to the current legislation.  GFVGA supports a sound science, risk based approach to food safety.  We strongly supported S. 510