Boston Globe, "the heat is finally, if belatedly, getting turned up on Suiza. The attorneys general in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Vermont have begun an inquiry, including looking at the Suiza-Stop & Shop deal. US Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, has pressed the Justice Department to investigate. And Leahy and Senator Thomas Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota, next week will introduce legislation to level the playing field between farmers and the giant agribusiness concerns. Finding the right balance won't be easy. Consolidation is changing the face of agriculture across-the-board from livestock to soybeans to milk. Just protecting farmers or manufacturers or anything else at the expense of consumers is a losing strategy in the world today. The kind of price fixing for milk we now have on the federal and regional level offends my free-market bones. Why should dairy farmers be guaranteed a set price for their milk when tomato farmers aren't? But agriculture does present some special antitrust problems. Antitrust enforcement is geared to situations where you have few producers - Microsoft, for instance - and millions of consumers. Agriculture faces the opposite situation: few and fewer buyers - Suiza, for instance - and many, increasingly powerless sellers. " The Boston Globe
International
Cranberries a hit in Japan
4/4/00 In 1999 Japan consumed 80,000 barrels of cranberries, a
number that is expected to double or triple this year. According to an article in the
Standard Times: U.S. agricultural officials in Tokyo this week are finding a receptive
audience for their message that people should eat more cranberries and drink more
cranberry juice. "We've seen several advertisements saying that cranberries are good
for you," Gus Schumacher, U.S. undersecretary for farm and foreign service
agriculture, said in a phone interview yesterday from the Asian financial capital.
"The advertisements say cranberries help your kidneys and ... contain antioxidants.
Cranberries are a hot product right now."
Read entire
article here.
Eye on the Aisle
Here comes Pepsi
(click photo to enlarge)
4/6/00 Ed. note: Readers unform us that the orange cranberry Twister has been
available for some time. Pepsi owned companies have eight cranberry products
available in the United States. Selecting the orange cranberry Twister to illustrate that
Pepsi is moving into the cranberry market was a poor choice. The Pepsico acquisition of
Dole and Tropicana, which have cranberry blends in the refrigerated section, has
positioned Pepsi to promote these as well as new cranberry juices, and become more of a
force in the cranberry industry.
4/4/00 Pepsi's Tropicana now has a Twister cranberry blend on the juice aisle. Called orange cranberry, it lists corn syrup, orange juice concentrate, citric acid, cranberry juice concentrate, natural flavors, orange soluble solids, vitamin C, pectin, sodium citrate and red dye no. 40 as ingredients. The color closely resembles ruby red grapefruit juice. Tropicana has a number of refrigerated varieties with cranberries which may or may not be available in your local supermarket. You can view them by clicking here. Apple and Eve also has several cranberry blends on the aisle; but these are labeled with cranberry first on the front while cranberry concentrate is the second fruit juice concentrate on the ingredient list. Cranberry seems more prevalent among the various fruit juice blends, whether listed first or second. Marketers are discovering that consumers like both the taste and health benefits of cranberries; even if the concentrate is so minimal as to effectively hide the taste and provide little if any health benefit.
The Sam's Club label, from WalMart, has a cranberry juice cocktail that lists 30% cranberry juice in large letters on the back label. Several taste testers familiar with CJC say they can discern more of a cranberry taste than the 27% cranberry products. The color is also somewhat more red.
Letter to cranberry growers from David Farrimond
Cranberry Marketing Allotment Form
Media
NYT Front page coverage on the farm crisis
4/2/00 It is the top story, at least on the Web, in the Sunday New York Times: "As life for family farmers worsens, the toughest wither," a major article on the plight of small American farmers - HERE
However, an A.P. story tells us that there are individual farmers in trouble,'' he said... ``That's always true, however. But U.S. agriculture, in the aggregate, had a good year in 1999, thanks primarily to the federal Congress.''
State doubles Makepeace planning grant - read Patriot Ledger article here.
Volume regulation
New: Cape Cod Times | Milwaukee Journal | Boston Globe | Standard Times | Patriot Ledger
Cranberry Marketing Committee
votes:
15% grower allotment volume regulation recommended
3/30/00 Latest word from the CMC meeting is that the committee has voted to recommend a 15% grower allotment marketing order based on crop history. Fresh market pack-out cranberries and certified organic cranberries are exempt. You can read the report from the CMC HERE. Ocean Spray press release HERE.
Ocean Spray's Grower Relations has kindly given permission to republish "The case for volume regulation" HERE
Costco to feature Cliffstar 16 oz. cranberry juices
3/30/00 Under the headline "Kirkland Signature's cranberry variety - a splash of refreshment" the April, 2000 edition of the Costco Wholesale club publication Inside Costco announced that the 322 store chain of membership required warehouse stores will now be carrying Cliffstar's Kirkland Signature cranberry juice in three varieties in the 16 oz. size. Costco reaches into 18 million households with more than 30 million card holders. It has annual revenues in excess of $27 billion.
Correction: This story originally and erroneously said that a source from Costco said they would no longer carry Ocean Spray. This is not the case. According to Doug Luke, Costco's buyer for corporate foods, Costco carries both Ocean Spray and Cliffstar products. He said that Ocean Spray does not distribute 16 oz. single serve containers like the Kirkland Signature's juices.
Kennedy hosts cranberry meeting between Hawthorne and Glickman
3/28/00 Ocean Spray Press Release -- Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman promised a quick response today to a request by H. Robert Hawthorne, president and CEO Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and other Massachusetts lawmakers that the federal government move to alleviate the cranberry surplus.
Kennedy arranged a meeting that included Secretary Glickman, Hawthorne, top Agriculture Department staff, and Massachusetts Reps. Barney Frank and James McGovern. Later, Hawthorne discussed the issue with William Delahunt, D-Mass., David Obey, D-Wisc., Senator Gordon Smith, R-Ore., Rep. Tom Petri, R-Wisc., and Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J.
Hawthorne, on behalf of the cranberry industry, requested quick action by USDA to put into place a plan to reduce cranberry production to cut the oversupply. He also requested that the Department buy $75 million worth of cranberry products, such as juice, sauce, and dried cranberries. CONTINUED | Easy to print version
3/29/00 But Mr. Decas said he was
"disappointed" Ocean Spray officials went to Washington alone. "I'm
not criticizing them for doing it, but they would probably have a better chance for
success if they included other industry representatives," he said. "The
government needs input from a cross-section of juice-makers to write specifications that
will allow all companies to have a shot at this business."
from related story in the Standard Times Here.
Cranberry Marketing Committee Report Addendum
Sales History – New Acres
3/31/00 -- Acreage surveys will soon be sent by the CMC to U.S. growers to report acreage being harvested in 2000 for the first time. This information will be used to adjust sales histories. Adjusted sales histories will be sent back to growers in early June. This timing may coincide with the Secretary of Agriculture’s decision regarding the volume regulation.
New acreage being harvested for the first time in 2000 is awarded state average for a sales history.
In addition, the CMC unanimously passed an informal rule which also awards state average as a sales history for acreage harvested for the first time in 1999 but produced 50 barrels per acre or less. The level for this adjustment was formerly 15 barrels per acre.
The state averages, in barrels per acre, chosen for assignment to new acres are:
| MA | 147.1 | Based on 1997 crop |
| NJ | 153.6 | Based on the best four state averages out of the past six harvests for each individual state |
| WI | 183.5 | |
| OR | 165.4 | |
| WA | 116.6 |
The compromise of using the greater of the above two methods to assign state average was passed unanimously. Remember that the state average sales history would be reduced by the amount of the volume regulation.
1999 Assessment Increased 2¢ per Barrel
The CMC raised the per barrel assessment on the 1999 crop from 4¢ to 6¢ per barrel to cover costs of preparing for the 2000 crop volume regulation. This would add about $138,000 to the CMC’s budget. Handlers will be invoiced.
Appeals Process
CMC Chairman Rob Hiller established an Appeals Sub-committee to review growers’ appeals of assigned sales history. The sub-committee members are:
Dan Rayala, OSC – WI. ; Ken Beeby, OSC
– MA. ; Al Faber, Independent – OR. ;
Dave Lukas, Independent – WI. ; Ed Jesse, Public Alternate – WI.
Growers will have 30 days from receipt of their sales history to submit a written appeal to the CMC. The appeals mentioned in the CMC regulations reference various unusual circumstances, acts of God, and other events beyond the growers control which have reduced sales history, including permanent loss of acreage.
Op-Ed
On a Cranberry Marketing Order
Don't assume that volume regulation is a done deal. This is an election year and the Secretary is not going to step on a landmine with an unpopular regulation. It should be noted that USDA does not like supply management through regulation, and they do not like dumping food.
by Linda Rinta
3/28/00 On Thursday the marketing committee
reconvenes to decide our fate with regards to dumping fruit. As small family farmers, many
of us feel powerless in the decision making. As well, the marketing order seems
complicated and confusing. There are some things we can weed out to help with our personal
decision making because we are not without a voice in this matter. It is so
important to realize that a recommendation from the Marketing Committee is just that, a
recommendation. USDA Secretary Dan Glickman will make the final decision in 90 days after
listening to comments from impacted farmers. The intent of a volume regulation is to
provide supply management assistance to an agriculture commodity when there is a consensus
of support for it throughout the whole industry. He will not make the decision to invoke a
volume regulation if it is met with great resistance and particularly if it has a (bias)
negative impact on small family farms.
The volume regulation proposed by Ocean Spray in February would have destroyed most small
family farms. It would have increased the collective sales history by including all new
acreage at that state's average. In Wisconsin that figure is around 200b/a. That would
have increased the total "quota" by about 1 mil. barrel. In order to offset that
increase, the "dump" figure would have to be greater by at least the same
amount. The quick and dirty of it is that those who did not plant significant acreage
during the last two years would be subsidizing those who did. In fact, in order to
"break-even" you would have had to planted the same percentage that was dumped,
and have a fairly high state average. CONTINUED | Easy to print
version