Potato Field Day & FDA Rules For Fruit Growers

Potato Field Day & FDA Rules For Fruit Growers

Potato Field Day & FDA Rules For Fruit Growers

I’m Lacy Gray with Washington Ag Today.

2013 marks fifty years of Washington State University partnering with the Washington State Potato Commission to conduct commercial potato seed lot trials. The trial annually assesses the disease load found in commercial potato seed lots, using seed from the U.S. and Canada. This year’s WSU potato field day is June 27 at the WSU Othello Research Center and will include a ribbon cutting ceremony for three new center pivots worth $170,000 that will provide an updated irrigation system at the research farm. The system was donated by the WSPC and will be used for the first time this year.

Earlier this week during a discussion on the House floor Congressman Doc Hastings engaged with House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas on how the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed one-size-fits-all food safety rules would adversely affect fruit and vegetable growers in Central Washington. 

HASTINGS: The Central Washington growers that I represent provide a variety of top quality produce to people across the country and around the world, including the majority of the apples, pears, and cherries grown in the United States. There’s no question that both consumers and growers want to ensure that we have the safest food supply in the world. However, I have serious concerns with the one-size-fits-all regulations that the Food and Drug Administration has proposed to govern the way that all fruits and vegetables are grown and harvested. It only makes sense that these products should be evaluated based on how susceptible they may be to food safety risks, and subjected to regulations that reflect both that risk and the way they are grown.

 

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Ag Information Network. 

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