10/02/2009

Tuesday Hearing Could Determine Fate of Local Leafy Greens

Writer:

Martha Filipic
filipic.3@cfaes.osu.edu
614-292-9833

Source:

Doug Doohan, Horticulture and Crop Science
doohan.1@osu.edu
330-202-3593, 330-466-4023 (cell)

Jeff LeJeune, Food Animal Health Research Program
lejeune.3@osu.edu
330-263-3739, 330-466-7442 (cell)

Karl Kolb
kgkolb@gmail.com
715-723-4915, 702-523-2068 (cell)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio growers of leafy greens and other interested parties have the opportunity to voice their opinions on Tuesday, Oct. 6, about a proposal that might affect their ability to grow and market their products in the future.

"I hope there's standing room only at the hearing," said Doug Doohan, fruit and vegetable specialist for Ohio State University Extension and horticulture researcher with the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC).

Doohan and Jeff LeJeune, microbiologist and food safety researcher also with OSU Extension and OARDC, have been working with produce growers in the state for several years on pre- and post-harvest food safety. They believe the stakes are high regarding the outcome of the hearing, scheduled for 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center, Room D130, 400 North High St.

Tuesday's hearing is the third of seven hearings nationwide that is accepting testimony on the proposed National Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement. Anyone who attends the hearing may offer comments. Transcripts of earlier hearings, as well as video from the hearings in Monterey, Calif., are available on the USDA's Web site at http://www.ams.usda.gov/moab (click on "Proposed - Leafy Greens Marketing Agreement" on the right-hand side of the page).

Although Ohio's leafy greens production is tiny compared with operations in California, Arizona, Florida and some other states, it's significant for produce growers and for consumers interested in supporting local foods, LeJeune said. Geauga County alone now has 250 Amish farmers relatively new to the produce industry, some of whom grow leafy greens on a small scale, but pool their resources and sell product to retailers through a weekly produce auction.

"Under this agreement, small growers could easily be relegated to selling only at farmers' markets," Doohan said. "Their ability to grow their business and make any kind of profit could be severely curtailed."

The national agreement, if instituted, would authorize developing production and handling regulations for leafy greens, including spinach, lettuce, kale, chard, cabbage, and any other greens recommended by the committee. Retailers and other "handlers" who voluntarily sign on to the agreement would require growers to follow the practices that a national board, with representation from regional committees, would outline.

Although these standards wouldn't be finalized until the agreement is set in stone and the national and regional committees are established, they would likely be based on a similar agreement that Western Growers (from California and Arizona) put into place several years ago, after the E. coli outbreak in spinach was traced to a large California farm, LeJeune said.

The hearing comes at a bad time for Ohio growers, many of whom grow a variety of products and are busy with harvest this time of year, LeJeune said. But he hopes any with a stake in this issue will flock to Columbus on Tuesday.

"There's a lot riding on the outcome of these hearings," LeJeune said. "I'm not sure growers are really aware of the importance of making their voices heard. It's a 'Speak now or forever hold your peace' situation."

Among the concerns that Doohan and LeJeune have heard from growers about the proposal:

• Ohio growers would be grouped in a region that includes nine other states, including southern states of Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. They fear that growers' ability to shape policy to fit Ohio conditions would be severely limited.
• Although the agreement is ostensibly completely voluntary for retailers, wholesalers and other handlers, they may feel pressured to sign onto the agreement in the name of food safety. And any growers who sell product to those retailers would have to abide by the agreement's farming provisions. The provisions could be costly both economically and in a farmer's ability to farm using sustainable practices, such as using organic matter to build up soils.
• The farming regulations for leafy greens could lead to similar regulations for other types of produce. "No buyer is going to say, 'Do this for leafy greens, but not for anything else I buy from you," Doohan said. "I have heard fears that this is going to be a slippery slope."
• The agreement in place in Western states could have unintended environmental consequences. In an attempt to eliminate contamination of E. coli from animal feces, for example, the agreement compels farmers to curtail wildlife in their fields. To do so, there have been reports of farmers removing trees and vegetation in buffer zones around their fields to remove wildlife habitat. Similar practices in Ohio could negatively affect the state's water quality, which the buffer zones are designed to protect.

Karl Kolb, a Wisconsin scientist and member of the Ohio Produce Growers and Marketers Association (OPGMA), will be testifying at the hearing on Tuesday. Kolbe was "in on the ground floor" when the Western Growers created its leafy greens agreement, but will testify against the national proposal at the hearing.

"I had high hopes for that agreement, I felt it was a good start," Kolb said. "But what was agreed to at the very beginning was that the agreement would be modified after a few years of experience, based on growers' experience and good science. But what has happened that everything they decided to try initially has been set in stone, even though the rules about water testing, wildlife, setbacks and use of organic matter don't make sense, and now they want to take it nationally."

Kolb said the OPGMA is working on an Ohio standard that would set up safety standards for Ohio's produce growers. LeJeune and Doohan are assisting with that project.

"The idea is to set up an Ohio-specific standard that makes sense for Ohio's growers but would satisfy any food safety concerns of grocers, shippers and other brokers," Kolb said. The OPGMA is planning on setting up five listening sessions about the concept in November for growers, and then present a final draft at the Ohio Fruit and Vegetable Growers Congress in January, with a recommendation to the Ohio Department of Agriculture planned for spring 2010.

In the meantime, Kolb joins LeJeune and Doohan in calling Ohio's growers to turn off their harvesting equipment on Tuesday and attend the hearing in Columbus. "We really need people to stand up and be counted on this," Kolb said. "I really hope people stand up and say let's slow this train down."

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