The U.S. Department of Agriculture will conduct a referendum Feb. 14 to March 4, 2022, on the proposed changes to the California desert grape marketing order. The California Desert Grape Administrative Committee, which locally administers the marketing order, recommended the proposed changes of decreasing its membership from 12 to 10 members and modifying its quorum and voting requirements accordingly.
The proposed changes would become effective if favored by two-thirds of the growers voting in the referendum or by two-thirds of the volume represented in the referendum.
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service will mail ballots and voting instructions to all California desert grape producers of record. To be eligible to vote, the producers must have produced table grapes grown within the designated production area of southeastern California from Jan. 1, through Dec. 31, 2021.
Eligible growers who have not received the ballot by February 21, 2022, may request one by calling (559) 487–5901, or emailing Jeffery Rymer at Jeffery.Rymer@usda.gov.
Notice of the referendum was published in the Federal Register on Jan. 25, 2022.
More information about the marketing order regulating the handling of California desert grapes is available on the 925 California Desert Grapes page on the AMS website.
Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, marketing orders are industry-driven programs that help producers and handlers achieve marketing success by leveraging their own funds to design and execute programs that they would not be able to do individually. AMS provides oversight to 29 fruit, vegetable, and specialty crop marketing orders and agreements to ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
More information about Federal marketing orders is available on the Marketing Orders and Agreements page of the AMS website or by contacting the Market Development Division at (202) 720-2491.
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