Cherry Referendum Scheduled

March 12, 2001

USDA has issued a referendum order on proposed amendments to the federal marketing agreement and order for sweet cherries grown in designated counties in Washington State. USDA will conduct the referendum April 10-27 to determine support for the amendments. Ballot material will be mailed to all known sweet cherry growers in the order's production area, including the additional counties proposed for inclusion.

Proposed amendments were published in the Nov. 9 Federal Register based on the record of a Nov. 16, 1999, public hearing in Yakima, WA. The hearing was requested by the Washington Cherry Marketing Committee, which is responsible for local administration of the order.

USDA provided a 30-day comment period for interested persons to file exceptions. No comments were received.

If the referendum is approved, it would increase the marketing order's authority by expanding its production area to include all counties in Washington State east of the Cascade Mountain Range. Currently, the marketing order's production area is limited to six counties east of the Cascades.

Other proposed amendments would: increase representation on the committee; allow cherries to be shipped outside the production area for handling; authorize collection of late payment charges and/or interest on handlers' late payments of assessments; add authority to establish container marking requirements; and simplify the form filing process for committee members and alternates seeking committee positions.

USDA also is proposing establishing a tenure limit for serving on the committee, and requiring that periodic continuance referenda be conducted to ascertain grower support for the order.

The amendments to the order will become effective only if approved by at least two-thirds of those growers voting in the referendum, or by growers producing at least two-thirds of the volume of sweet cherries represented in the referendum and grown during a period set by the secretary of agriculture. To be eligible to vote in the referendum, growers must currently be producers and they must have produced sweet cherries in the proposed expanded production area during the period April 1, 1999 through March 31, 2000.

Details of these recommendations were published in the March 6 Federal Register. Copies may be obtained from Teresa Hutchinson, AMS Fruit and Vegetable Division, Room 369, USDA Northwest Marketing Field Office, 1220 SW Third Ave., Portland OR 97204; telephone (503) 326-2724; or fax (503) 326-7440.

Copies may also be obtained from Kathleen M. Finn, AMS Fruit and Vegetable Division, USDA Stop 0237, 1400 Independence Ave. SW, Washington DC 20250-0237; telephone (202) 720-2491; or fax (202) 720-8363. The notice will also be available at www.ams.usda.gov/fv/moab.html.