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Source: USDA, 7/16/21
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) announced today that, as required
by law, it will conduct a referendum for eligible domestic producers and importers
of highbush blueberries on whether to continue the Blueberry Promotion,
Research and Information Order. The referendum will be held Oct. 8-22, 2021.
If a majority of producers and
importers voting in the referendum, who also represent a majority of the volume
of blueberries represented in the referendum favor continuance of the order,
USDA would continue the blueberry research and promotion program. To vote in the referendum,
producers and importers must have produced or imported 2,000 pounds or more of
highbush blueberries during the representative period Jan. 1 through Dec. 31,
2020, paid assessments during that period, and must currently be producers or
importers subject to assessment under the program. AMS will conduct the referendum by
express mail and electronic ballot. AMS staff will express mail ballots and
voting instructions to all known eligible producers and importers of highbush
blueberries before the voting period. Any eligible producer or importer who
does not receive a ballot by Oct. 8, 2021, should contact referendum agent
Jeanette Palmer at (202) 720-5976 or (202) 720-9915, or email Jeanette.Palmer@usda.gov. Completed ballots
delivered to AMS via express mail or electronic means must be delivered no
later than 11:59 p.m. ET on Oct. 22, 2021. The notice of referendum was
published in the Federal Register on July 16, 2021. More information about referendum procedures is in Subpart B
of the Blueberry Promotion, Research and Information Order. For more
information about the Council, visit the U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council page on the AMS website and on the Council’s website, ushbc.blueberry.org. The
blueberry program is authorized under the Commodity Promotion, Research and
Information Act of 1996. The program was developed to administer an effective
and coordinated program of generic promotion, consumer information and related
research designed to drive consumption of highbush blueberries within the U.S
and internationally. Since 1966, Congress has authorized the development of industry-funded research and promotion boards to provide a framework for agricultural industries to pool their resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets and conduct important research and promotion activities. The Agricultural Marketing Service provides oversight of 22 boards, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
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