nectarines

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has this week released the results of the federal referenda for the continuation of the Peach Commodity Committee and the Nectarine Administrative Committee, announcing that it will now terminate the marketing order programmes for California-grown nectarines and peaches.

Carried out once every four years, and taking place between 12 January and 2 February this year, the referenda saw growers vote on whether to continue the marketing programmes – with 66 per cent of the total voting, by number or by production volume, needing to back the programmes in order to sustain them.

According to a California Tree Fruit Agreement (CTFA) news release, 62 per cent of peach growers, who produce 36 per cent of total volumes, favoured continuance, while 63 per cent of nectarine growers, producing 36 per cent of volumes, favoured continuance.

The immediate future will see the CTFA working with the USDA to suspend all nectarine and peach handling regulations for the 2011 season, with wind-down processes beginning immediately.

With the failure of both the federal and state marketing order referenda for peaches and nectarines, the California Plum Marketing Board will now be the only remaining marketing order – which could spell the end for the CTFA, the organisation that administered the marketing orders, according to The Packer.

The long-term future of the CTFA will depend on whether the USDA allows the plum marketing order to stay in place, with a board meeting set for 11 April.

'If we keep going, it will probably be with a staff of one or two people,' Gary Van Sickle, president of CTFA, told The Packer, although he added that any phase-out could take up to six months.