Florida Tomato Exchange and Florida Tomato Growers Exchange meet at Joint Tomato Conference
Florida Tomato Exchange and Florida Tomato Growers Exchange meet at Joint Tomato Conference
NAPLES, FL The Florida Tomato Exchange and the Florida Tomato Growers Exchange held their annual membership meetings Sept. 8, at which time representatives from both groups discussed several issues affecting the industry and elected their boards of directors. The meetings were part of the Joint Tomato Conference held Sept. 6-11, here, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.
The first meeting of the morning was the Florida Tomato Exchange. Executive Vice President Reggie Brown said that the FTE was active on a number of issues during the past year, and given the "turbulence" that growers started with, he hoped not to repeat anything like it again anytime soon. It's another year we survived, he said.
John Himmelberg of OConnor & Hannan LLP in Washington, DC, the exchanges legal counsel, detailed some of the issues on which the exchange had worked with Congress over the past year, which included country-of-origin labeling, methyl bromide, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, food safety and the farm bill.
Although Mr. Himmelberg said that CAFTA would benefit the Florida tomato industry, he said that the FTE opposed the agreement because it would allow tomatoes and peppers from the Dominican Republic to be imported under less-restrictive standards.
Mr. Himmelberg noted that FTE was looking at forming a crop-protection coalition to help growers keep as much methyl bromide as they can for as long as they can. In addition, he said that there is pending legislation that might lead to restrictions to the Florida marketing order and the matter was discussed with senators and representatives from Florida.
Before adjourning the meeting, the FTE elected its board of directors for 2005-06. The officers are President Kern Carpenter, Vice President David Neill, Secretary Jay Taylor and Treasurer James Grainger. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange meeting followed directly on the heels of the FTE meeting. Executive Vice President Reggie Brown said that the year had provided some interesting experiences with some fairly good successes and some fairly stellar failures.
Danny Raulerson, manager of the Quincy Tomato Growers Exchange, gave a report detailing the state of the industry in the Quincy, FL, area. Mr. Raulerson said that the industry was battling back, and though the days were still hot, the nights were cooling down. He said that labor always continues to be a question, especially with the events that had just taken place on the Gulf Coast with Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Raulerson noted that development has not affected the Quincy area, but pockets of development were starting to cause some concern.
Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission and manager of the California Fresh Tomato Growers Exchange, gave a report on the California tomato industry. He said that the major concern in the industry was the recent diversion of 1 million boxes of processing tomatoes to Mexico, where they were sold as fresh. This raised several food-safety questions, and California growers have helped to raise funds, some from their own pockets, to address this issue.
Mr. Beckman also said that though growers set a record in July with 9 million cartons produced, they had recently gone through a spell of 33 days with temperatures over 100 degrees. Mr. Beckman expected that the heat would lead to a decrease in volume over last year, thought he did not see it as being a problem for supply.
Following the same format as the FTE meeting, the FTGE elected its 2005-06 board of directors before adjourning. The boards officers are President James Grainger, Vice President Dan McClure, Secretary Larry Lipman and Treasurer Mike Sullivan.
The first meeting of the morning was the Florida Tomato Exchange. Executive Vice President Reggie Brown said that the FTE was active on a number of issues during the past year, and given the "turbulence" that growers started with, he hoped not to repeat anything like it again anytime soon. It's another year we survived, he said.
John Himmelberg of OConnor & Hannan LLP in Washington, DC, the exchanges legal counsel, detailed some of the issues on which the exchange had worked with Congress over the past year, which included country-of-origin labeling, methyl bromide, the Central American Free Trade Agreement, food safety and the farm bill.
Although Mr. Himmelberg said that CAFTA would benefit the Florida tomato industry, he said that the FTE opposed the agreement because it would allow tomatoes and peppers from the Dominican Republic to be imported under less-restrictive standards.
Mr. Himmelberg noted that FTE was looking at forming a crop-protection coalition to help growers keep as much methyl bromide as they can for as long as they can. In addition, he said that there is pending legislation that might lead to restrictions to the Florida marketing order and the matter was discussed with senators and representatives from Florida.
Before adjourning the meeting, the FTE elected its board of directors for 2005-06. The officers are President Kern Carpenter, Vice President David Neill, Secretary Jay Taylor and Treasurer James Grainger. The Florida Tomato Growers Exchange meeting followed directly on the heels of the FTE meeting. Executive Vice President Reggie Brown said that the year had provided some interesting experiences with some fairly good successes and some fairly stellar failures.
Danny Raulerson, manager of the Quincy Tomato Growers Exchange, gave a report detailing the state of the industry in the Quincy, FL, area. Mr. Raulerson said that the industry was battling back, and though the days were still hot, the nights were cooling down. He said that labor always continues to be a question, especially with the events that had just taken place on the Gulf Coast with Hurricane Katrina. Mr. Raulerson noted that development has not affected the Quincy area, but pockets of development were starting to cause some concern.
Ed Beckman, president of the California Tomato Commission and manager of the California Fresh Tomato Growers Exchange, gave a report on the California tomato industry. He said that the major concern in the industry was the recent diversion of 1 million boxes of processing tomatoes to Mexico, where they were sold as fresh. This raised several food-safety questions, and California growers have helped to raise funds, some from their own pockets, to address this issue.
Mr. Beckman also said that though growers set a record in July with 9 million cartons produced, they had recently gone through a spell of 33 days with temperatures over 100 degrees. Mr. Beckman expected that the heat would lead to a decrease in volume over last year, thought he did not see it as being a problem for supply.
Following the same format as the FTE meeting, the FTGE elected its 2005-06 board of directors before adjourning. The boards officers are President James Grainger, Vice President Dan McClure, Secretary Larry Lipman and Treasurer Mike Sullivan.
