Release No.: 048-16
WASHINGTON, March 9, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) is seeking nominations for the National Watermelon Promotion Board.
The 37-member board is comprised of 14 producers, 14 handlers, eight importers, and a public member. Board members are nominated by their peers while the public member is nominated by the board. To be eligible for nomination, producers must grow 10 or more acres of watermelons, handlers must be the first handler of watermelons, and importers must import watermelons. Selected representatives will serve on the board for three years.
The board is planning to fill 12 seats -- two producer and two handler seats, each, in districts four, five and seven.
District four consists of Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Washington, DC.
District five consists of all counties in California, while district seven consists of Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The board meets regularly to plan promotion, marketing and research activities that benefit the industry. AMS oversees the board’s activities.
USDA encourages board membership that reflects the diversity of the individuals served by the research and promotion programs. All eligible women, minorities and persons with disabilities are encouraged to seek nomination for a seat on the National Watermelon Promotion Board by the June 15, 2016 deadline.
For more information or a nomination form, contact the board’s Director of Operations & Industry Affairs Rebekah Dossett or Industry Affairs Manager Andrea Smith at (407) 657-0261.
Research and promotion programs are industry-funded, were authorized by Congress, and date back to 1966, when Congress passed the Cotton Research and Promotion Act. Since then, Congress has authorized the establishment of 22 research and promotion boards. They empower agricultural industries, including the fruit and vegetable industry, to leverage their own resources to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets, and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight, paid for by industry assessments, which helps to ensure fiscal responsibility, program efficiency and fair treatment of participating stakeholders.
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