With legislation just introduced that would repeal mandatory country-of-origin labeling for meat, members of the produce industry wonder if their products can be far behind. House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is planning to introduce a comprehensive bill in the coming weeks that would add produce and seafood to the list of commodities no longer controlled by the mandatory COOL law. Without congressional action, mandatory labeling for produce is scheduled to go into effect Sept. 30, 2006. The labeling program already kicked in for fish and shellfish on April 4. On May 4

While driving to a store, I noticed that the needle on my vehicles fuel gauge was flirting with empty. After challenging it for a few more miles, I decided to pull into a gas station and force myself to buy some liquid gold in order to continue motoring forward. Once at the pump, I noticed a receipt sticking out of the slot from the previous customer. He or she probably left it there to avoid the possibility of a sudden heart attack from observing the results. I pulled the receipt from the slot and saw that it registered 20 gallons of gasoline for a total cost of $50. Being next up at the

California's strawberry growers have taken a hit this season with an inordinate amount of rain. But though Mother Nature packs a punch, growers have been able to stay on their feet. "Its been a challenge," said Tim Youmans, national retail sales manager for Watsonville, CA-based Driscoll Strawberry Associates. Theres been a loss in production thats impacting retailers. The uncertainty of supplies has affected retailers ability to market the berries, he said. Weather-related problems this season have been the worst in at least the past five years, Mr. Youmans said. In addition to all the

The Dispute Resolution Corp. and Blue Book Services jointly announced plans to reconfigure their six-year working arrangement whereby Blue Book Services had provided trading assistance services on the DRC's behalf to its members. By mid-summer 2005, the DRC will independently provide such services to its members located in Canada, the United States and Mexico from its Ottawa, ON, headquarters. DRC and Blue Book Services will continue to build on their strong working relationship as they enter into this new phase of their strategic alliance. "Since 1999, DRC members have consistently received

I just recently attended a meeting with the new (as in recently appointed) Canadian deputy minister of agriculture. Also attending was a significant number of Canadian Agri-Food Industry association managers. I was struck that the common theme amongst all was: How do we more effectively communicate and consult with the agricultural department? What was reassuring was that it was a common theme. In fairness, this issue isn't only with that single government department, or indeed with the private sector. It made me think back to 1986 when we still had the old telex machine in our office, and had

I just recently attended a meeting with the new (as in recently appointed) Canadian deputy minister of agriculture. Also attending was a significant number of Canadian Agri-Food Industry association managers. I was struck that the common theme amongst all was: How do we more effectively communicate and consult with the agricultural department? What was reassuring was that it was a common theme. In fairness, this issue isn't only with that single government department, or indeed with the private sector. It made me think back to 1986 when we still had the old telex machine in our office, and had