Newly-appointed US Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack has rescinded a decision by the previous Administration that would have moved US$3.2m in Specialty Crop Block Grant money to fund oversight and enforcement responsibilities for mandatory country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) in a move which has been applauded by the Washington DC-based United Fresh Produce Association.

“We are extremely pleased that Secretary Vilsack has made this decision and reversed what would have been bad public policy all the way around,” explained Robert Guenther, senior vice-president of public policy at United Fresh, in a press statement.

“The Specialty Crop Block Grant program is an extremely important tool for producers across the country and was enacted by Congress in the 2008 Farm Bill with mandatory funding. It is incomprehensible that the previous leadership at USDA would place the entire burden of funding COOL enforcement on our sector, when COOL applies to meat and seafood as well. If USDA believes additional funding is required for COOL enforcement, we strongly believe Congress should appropriate funding solely for that purpose.”

Secretary Vilsack’s policy reversal comes on the heels of former Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer informing House and Senate agriculture leaders in December that he was moving forward with this process despite strong objections by United Fresh and others.

On 6 January 2009, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, of which United Fresh is the secretariat, sent a letter to Secretary Schafer expressing strong opposition to this decision.

United Fresh also worked closely with President Obama’s transition team to ensure the issue was address early on in the new Administration.

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