Referendum planned to include greenhouse tomatoes in California Tomato Commission
Referendum planned to include greenhouse tomatoes in California Tomato Commission
The California Tomato Commission currently governs all field-grown tomato production in California, whether mature green or vine-ripe, but does not have oversight over hydroponic greenhouse-grown tomatoes. That appears about to change.
?The commission is going to referendum in the nest few months? to determine whether its scope will be expanded to include the greenhouse tomato industry in California, said Ed Beckman, president of the Fresno-based commission.
The referendum is expected to pass, as it was the greenhouse industry that approached the commission with the concept. At the 19th annual California Tomato Conference held Feb. 2-5 in Huntington Beach, CA, the commission, "after discussion with the greenhouse industry in California, decided to expand [its] scope to include all forms of greenhouse production, including hydroponic and shade cloth," Mr. Beckman said. "That will expand our base and who we represent significantly."
The greenhouse industry approached the commission about wanting to participate "because of the value that comes from the governmental affairs programs and all of the market research that we do," he said. "Market research now represents a very significant portion of our entire market program. When you have an industry that wants to actively participate, we felt it was the right thing to do to go to referendum and go ahead and expand the scope."
The enabling legislation allowing for the expansion has already been passed, he said. "It is simply now just a matter of the referendum? in which producers of greenhouse tomatoes in California will vote on whether they wish to be part of the commission. "For all practical purposes, we would expect the referendum to pass because the volume that is represented by the proponents is overwhelming."
A date had not yet been set for the referendum, but "we are going to do it as quickly as possible," he said.
The scope of the commission?s activities is expected to increase in yet another regard over the next year. "The California Tomato Commission is introducing legislation in Sacramento that will essentially put a marketing order inside of the commission beginning in 2006 that will require all tomatoes produced in California "to be produced under good agricultural practices and be subject to third-party audits," Mr. Beckman said.
Meanwhile, as an "interim measure," the commission is petitioning the secretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture to amend standardization laws for tomatoes, he said. "Those are similar to what you would find if we had, in fact, a marketing order in place. These are minimum standards that apply to quality in the pack. We are amending these standards to require verifiable traceback on all tomatoes produced in California. We are expecting that all growers and shippers will have to have traceback on individual cartons by the first of June."
That is being done in response to a directive from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to the tomato industry last year, he said. "We are simply going ahead and raising the bar in terms of food safety and the production practices of the field tomato industry in the United States."
In addition, he said, the California Fresh Tomato Growers Exchange "has decided to impose an assessment that will provide the funding to put inspectors out in the field and also on the terminal markets in a significant attempt to crack down on anyone who would attempt to illegally produce tomatoes in California outside of the requirements that will be set forth under standardization."
Yet another change appears on the horizon for the tomato industry in California. "The commission board of directors gave approval for the commission to assist in a new federal marketing order? for California-grown Roma tomatoes, Mr. Beckman said. That new Roma marketing order is in the early planning stages "and probably won?t go into public hearings until this fall," he said.
The commission?s budget for the coming year stands at just over $2 million, which is "down slightly? from the previous year, Mr. Beckman said. However, there are some significant changes in the way the money is being allocated.
?We are investing significantly more this coming year in two areas, one being governmental and the other being research," he said, adding that less will be spent in traditional domestic marketing programs.
The research budget is up about 35 percent over last year. There are two major thrusts to the research programs, Mr. Beckman explained. "One area is production practices and postharvest handling. This is specifically related to the directive of the [FDA] last year for the tomato industry to give consideration to our production practices."
He said that the industry "has been working on a number of fronts on the issue of microbial contamination, and we have developed a research project that, very frankly, is going to take a look at everything we do and revisit whether or not our practices are in fact on the cutting edge " which we believe " or whether or not there needs to be additional research done and practices modified. This project has already been peer reviewed by the FDA," he said.
The other area of production research that will receive significantly more funding is focusing on the development of integrated pest management control strategies for the tomato psyllid, a pest that "wiped out about 40 percent of the tomato crop in Baja California last year," he said.
The commission?s expanded efforts in governmental affairs "simply represents the continued shift of the commission away from traditional marketing programs into more of the big picture issues that are impacting our industry," including state and federal regulations as well as international trade, Mr. Beckman said.
Overall, "what we see is a fairly significant shift in terms of the programs of the commission," he said.
?The commission is going to referendum in the nest few months? to determine whether its scope will be expanded to include the greenhouse tomato industry in California, said Ed Beckman, president of the Fresno-based commission.
The referendum is expected to pass, as it was the greenhouse industry that approached the commission with the concept. At the 19th annual California Tomato Conference held Feb. 2-5 in Huntington Beach, CA, the commission, "after discussion with the greenhouse industry in California, decided to expand [its] scope to include all forms of greenhouse production, including hydroponic and shade cloth," Mr. Beckman said. "That will expand our base and who we represent significantly."
The greenhouse industry approached the commission about wanting to participate "because of the value that comes from the governmental affairs programs and all of the market research that we do," he said. "Market research now represents a very significant portion of our entire market program. When you have an industry that wants to actively participate, we felt it was the right thing to do to go to referendum and go ahead and expand the scope."
The enabling legislation allowing for the expansion has already been passed, he said. "It is simply now just a matter of the referendum? in which producers of greenhouse tomatoes in California will vote on whether they wish to be part of the commission. "For all practical purposes, we would expect the referendum to pass because the volume that is represented by the proponents is overwhelming."
A date had not yet been set for the referendum, but "we are going to do it as quickly as possible," he said.
The scope of the commission?s activities is expected to increase in yet another regard over the next year. "The California Tomato Commission is introducing legislation in Sacramento that will essentially put a marketing order inside of the commission beginning in 2006 that will require all tomatoes produced in California "to be produced under good agricultural practices and be subject to third-party audits," Mr. Beckman said.
Meanwhile, as an "interim measure," the commission is petitioning the secretary of the California Department of Food & Agriculture to amend standardization laws for tomatoes, he said. "Those are similar to what you would find if we had, in fact, a marketing order in place. These are minimum standards that apply to quality in the pack. We are amending these standards to require verifiable traceback on all tomatoes produced in California. We are expecting that all growers and shippers will have to have traceback on individual cartons by the first of June."
That is being done in response to a directive from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to the tomato industry last year, he said. "We are simply going ahead and raising the bar in terms of food safety and the production practices of the field tomato industry in the United States."
In addition, he said, the California Fresh Tomato Growers Exchange "has decided to impose an assessment that will provide the funding to put inspectors out in the field and also on the terminal markets in a significant attempt to crack down on anyone who would attempt to illegally produce tomatoes in California outside of the requirements that will be set forth under standardization."
Yet another change appears on the horizon for the tomato industry in California. "The commission board of directors gave approval for the commission to assist in a new federal marketing order? for California-grown Roma tomatoes, Mr. Beckman said. That new Roma marketing order is in the early planning stages "and probably won?t go into public hearings until this fall," he said.
The commission?s budget for the coming year stands at just over $2 million, which is "down slightly? from the previous year, Mr. Beckman said. However, there are some significant changes in the way the money is being allocated.
?We are investing significantly more this coming year in two areas, one being governmental and the other being research," he said, adding that less will be spent in traditional domestic marketing programs.
The research budget is up about 35 percent over last year. There are two major thrusts to the research programs, Mr. Beckman explained. "One area is production practices and postharvest handling. This is specifically related to the directive of the [FDA] last year for the tomato industry to give consideration to our production practices."
He said that the industry "has been working on a number of fronts on the issue of microbial contamination, and we have developed a research project that, very frankly, is going to take a look at everything we do and revisit whether or not our practices are in fact on the cutting edge " which we believe " or whether or not there needs to be additional research done and practices modified. This project has already been peer reviewed by the FDA," he said.
The other area of production research that will receive significantly more funding is focusing on the development of integrated pest management control strategies for the tomato psyllid, a pest that "wiped out about 40 percent of the tomato crop in Baja California last year," he said.
The commission?s expanded efforts in governmental affairs "simply represents the continued shift of the commission away from traditional marketing programs into more of the big picture issues that are impacting our industry," including state and federal regulations as well as international trade, Mr. Beckman said.
Overall, "what we see is a fairly significant shift in terms of the programs of the commission," he said.
