More than 150 volunteer leaders of the United Fresh Produce Association joined together for the association’s annual Winter Leadership Meetings in Tucson, Arizona, last week to address programs, policies and priorities to serve the association’s broad supply chain membership.
Following individual meetings, all groups came together to discuss the current economic outlook in the US fresh produce and food industry, as well as what the industry can expect from the new Obama Administration and Congress.
“Our Winter Leadership Meetings provided a great chance for volunteer leaders from all sectors of our association to come together in common purpose to serve our membership,” said United Fresh chairman Tom Lovelace of McEntire Produce. “Clearly, our members have a lot on their agenda, and it is gratifying to see the boards and councils tackling the many major issues confronting our industry.”
The week’s events culminated with a two-day meeting of the United Board of Directors to hear from each of its leadership groups, set key public policy priorities for the year ahead, and shape programs that will serve the broad membership.
Among a number of actions taken, the board adopted three public policy documents, 2009 Government Relations Priorities, a Food Safety Policy White Paper and a set of 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Policy Priorities – all of which will be published on the United Fresh website.
Key priorities of the 2009 Government Relations Priorities include increasing fruit and vegetable sales through nutrition policy; ensuring appropriate food safety legislation and regulation; passing comprehensive immigration reform and blocking the union card-check bill; ensuring proper funding and implementation of the 2008 Farm Bill; and taking an active role in supply chain issues such as the highway transportation bill, energy policy, and traceability.
The Food Safety Policy White Paper outlines specific legislative policies and provisions and is designed to provide a roadmap for United Fresh and others in evaluating and drafting specific legislative language and potential regulations that might be considered by Congress and the Administration this year.
The 2009 Child Nutrition Reauthorization Policy Priorities, recommend by its Government Relations Council, will shape association goals in this broad legislative process determining the state of school lunch, school breakfast and competitive foods sold in schools for the next five years.
Specifically, the goals call for a “Salad Bar in Every School” campaign; increased reimbursement rates to allow schools to purchase more fresh fruits and vegetables; and funding for non-food assistance grants to help schools enhance refrigerated storage as well as purchase salad bars and other similar equipment.
In addition to the policy documents, the Board directed that harmonization of produce safety standards continue to be a major priority for United Fresh, and urged strong industry-wide participation in the upcoming Global Conference on Produce Food Safety Standards, a post-show conference to be held immediately following United Fresh 2009 in Las Vegas on 24-25 April.
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