US pear growers to vote on federal marketing
The measure, a referendum organized by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is routine. It happens every six years. Supporters hope it stays routine.
“It’s in the best interest of all the growers,” said Ron Rivers, a grower in Parkdale, Oregon, in the Hood River Valley. “Because we have to work as a unit, a unified group.”
The fifth-generation grower is a board member of Pear Bureau Northwest, the Clackamas, Oregon, association that administers the marketing order.
In June last year, growers and packers who account for 93 percent of the Northwest’s organic pear production opted out of paying organic promotion assessments.
The bureau’s board of directors then chose to cease generic promotions of organic pears through advertisements, in-store samples and other marketing activities under the brand name USA Pears. Organic pears represent about 6 percent of the Northwest’s average volume.
The exit, allowed under a clause of the 2014 Farm Bill, did not directly affect promotions of conventionally grown pears. However, pear shippers now solely bearing the cost of their own organic promotions may be more likely to go it alone with their conventional marketing, too.
source: goodfruit.com
