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Newsletter

Friday, February 16, 2007
I post five news articles each night related to the Produce industry on http://www.agplus.net. The articles can be found in the “Produce News” section.
They don’t contain my commentary but they are worth the read.
Farm workers urge Burger King to help improve work conditions
International Herald Tribune
MIAMI: Farmworkers carrying tomato buckets and beating drums protested Thursday in front of Burger King's headquarters, urging the fast-food giant to take a closer look at the conditions in the Florida fields where many of its tomatoes are picked. More than 50 workers, clergy, students and community activists kicked off what they called a "truth campaign" to highlight the treatment of Florida farmworkers who pick the tomatoes. The campaign is organized by the Coalition of Immokalee workers, which two years ago won a raise for some Florida tomato workers through a four-year boycott of another fast-food giant, Taco Bell. Taco Bell has since worked with the coalition to ensure the money was passed on directly to pickers and supported the development of a code of conduct and standards that tomato workers helped create.
Click link to read complete story
Source: International Herald Tribune
Harold Thinks! Farming is a hard enough job with a great deal of risk but it can be very satisfying as well. What they don’t need is what I consider to be a form of blackmail. If you read the entire article it is about nothing more than increasing wages. It is too bad organizations like this get all the free press. Many reporters still use one such organization, the United Farm Workers, which stopped being a player in the industry years ago and has been discredited by the LA Times, as a source of information. I believe in Freedom of the Press, I just wish that reporters would stick to facts and print what is warranted not just to write to fill up the newspapers. I am going to Burger King for supper and will continue to eat there unless they cave into this blackmail.
Legislation Would Create New Food Safety Agency
February 15, 2007
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have introduced legislation to put all food safety responsibilities under a single new Food Safety Administrator. The Safe Food Act also would modernize the 100-year old food safety laws, and give the new chief a unified budget. The legislation is supported by the nonprofit food safety and nutrition watchdog group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI).
The government's finite food safety resources are not equitably split between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Bush Administration's 2008 budget proposal makes matters worse, according to CSPI. USDA regulates 20 percent of the nation's food supply, and the Administration proposes giving the department $270 million in new money for food safety and security. FDA regulates 80 percent of the food supply, including fresh vegetables like spinach and lettuce, but it will get only $10.6 million in new food safety money, despite being underfunded already.
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Source: ConsumerAffairs.com

Harold Thinks! Wel, it seems on the surface that this is not a bad idea BUT, if they don’t get proper input from our industry and don’t listen to it, then it will just result in bad news for our industry. I guess I am just growing more skeptical of the government’s efforts to get things right. I realize I should give them the benefit of the doubt but based on the efforts to fix the illegal aliens issue after 20 odd years maybe I have a right to be skeptical. Common sense seems to be leaving Washington as quickly as Congressmen are throwing their hat in the ring to be President. That of course is the subject for another time. What do you think? Send me an e-mail.