The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking comments on a proposal to terminate the marketing order regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in designated counties of Virginia and North Carolina. The marketing order was established in 1948 but has been suspended twice since 2011 and is currently not active.
In 2011, USDA implemented a recommendation from the Southeastern Potato Committee to suspend the marketing order for a three-year period to eliminate the expense of administering the marketing order while determining the effects of not having the order’s grade, size, quality, maturity, inspection and reporting requirements in place. The suspension ended in March 2014.
The Southeastern potato industry requested to extend the suspension for an additional three-years, from 2014 to 2017, to allow the industry more time to study changes and evaluate new developments in the industry that could affect the need for the marketing order. The extension included the term that if the industry did not petition USDA to have the marketing order reactivated by the end of the suspension period, USDA would propose termination. USDA has not received a request to reactivate the order.
The proposed rule for this action was published in the Federal Register July 25, 2018. Written comments must be received by September 24, 2018.
Interested parties can post comments concerning the proposed termination at www.regulations.gov or mail them to the Docket Clerk, Marketing Order and Agreement Division, Specialty Crops Program, Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS), USDA, 1400 Independence Avenue SW, STOP 0237, Washington, DC 20250-0237; or fax them to (202) 720-8938.
All comments submitted by the deadline will be made available for public review and will be considered before a final determination is made. Termination of the marketing order would become effective only after USDA provides a 60-day notice to Congress, as required by law.
More information about the marketing order is available on the 953 Southeastern Potatoes page on the AMS website. Information about federal marketing orders is available on AMS’ Marketing Orders and Agreements page or by contacting the Marketing Order and Agreement Division at (202) 720-2491.
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. The Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides oversight to 29 fruit, vegetable and specialty crops marketing orders and agreements, which helps ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
