VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) A public hearing was held
Monday in the state Department of
Agriculture building in Harrisburg
on a proposal to increase the apple
producer-assessment to support
the activities of the Pennsylvania
Apple Marketing Program
(PAMP).
It will take a couple of weeks
before an official report is pre
pared and released on testimony
received during the hearing. In the
meantime, there is still an oppor
tunity for public comment on the
proposal.
According to Mike Varner,
chief of the state Department of
Agriculture, Bureau of Marketing
Development, Commodity Prom
otion Division, written testimony
will be received until Dec. 28, and
added to the body of comments to
be considered.
Those wishing to make com
ments should send their signed
comments, along with their printed
name, address and phone number
if applicable, to: Pa. Department
of Agriculture, Bureau of Mark
et Development, Attn: Fran
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Apple Producer-Assessment Increase Explained
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St., Harrisburg, 17110-9408.
After the testimony is all col
lected, transcribed and reviewed
by State Secretary of Agriculture
Charles Brosius, he is to make a
determination, if comment con-,
sensus warrants, whether or not to
hold a producer-referendum on the
proposal.
The referendum would then
likely occur in the spring.
The public hearing was held to
receive testimony regarding a
proposal of increasing the assess
ment rate charged apple producers
to operate the PAMP.
Currently those with 500 or
more apple trees (of all ages), are
assessed 7 cents per bushel of
apples sold at fresh market, and 4
cents per hundred pounds of apples
sold for processing.
The proposal is to increase those
rates next year to 12 cents per
bushel sold fresh, and 6 cents per
hundred pounds sold for
processing.
Further, the proposal would
lock-in an automatic assessement
hike to IS cents per bushel sold
fresh, and 8 cents per hundred
pounds in 2000.
ACE HARDWARE
The current rate of assessment
has been constant for more than 14
years, while the apple marketing
program created through the
state’s Agricultural Commodity
Marketing Act has successful
ly expanded into international
markets and promotions, as well as
maintaining and expanding
domestic promotions.
Brenda Beleski Briggs is direc
tor of PAMP. a one-person opera
tion overseen by the Pa. Apple
Marketing Board. The board mem
bers are apple growers affected by
the assessments.
According to Briggs, the board
is asking growers to support the
assessment increase to adequately
fund current and future programs.
In otherwords. the program has
hit the limit of what it can do to
promote and market Pennsylvania
apples with the funds that it
receives.
Briggs said that the funds used
now are primarily focused on sea
sonal promotion and marketing.
“We need to do a better job of sup
porting sales throughout the mark
eting season,” Briggs said.
If Pennsylvania is to participate
in year-round marketing of apples.
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it needs more money.
“At this point, we can only do
promotions in the fall. There’s not
enough to promote in the winter
and spring, and really, marketing
apples is a year-round business,”
Briggs said.
Also she said that work needs to
be done to better promote the pro
cessed apple business. “We need
funding to keep rolling in the right
direction.”
On top of that, given inflation
(the lowering of cash value
because of increased volume of
money and credit as compared to
the amount of goods) the PAMP
program is to the point where the
board predicts it will begin losing
its ability to fund its current level
of activities.
Those seeking the assessment
increase point to the increased
marketing of Pennsylvania apples
that is directly linked to PAMP
actions.
As background, Washington
state has long dominated the U.S.
apple market and has been in stiff
competition with the rest of the
producers in the nation.
For years because of the size of
its apple industry, Washington was
2|r muss
the sole beneficiary of federal
funds to help promote apples
internationally.
(Some suggest that other states
benefitted in having prices sus
tained because Washington apples
woe exported instead of being
glutted on the domestic market
The effect of supplying a* non
domestic market could limit avail
ability of apples on the domestic
market, but barring a severe tree
disease or horrific national late
spring frost, it does not seem likely
that most of the nation would
experience apple shortages signif
icant enough to boost prices if
Washington state wwe to export
even more of its produce.)
Growers in other slates, includ
ing Pennsylvania, did not see the
benefit from Washington’s self
promotion. To compete for federal
support for the rest of the nation’s
apple industry, growers in 13
states other than Washington
framed the U.S. Apple Export
Council, administerd by the Inter
national Apple Institute (IAI).
Briggs serves on the U.S. Apple
Export Council, and she also
serves on the lAI State Advisory
and Budget and Personnel
committees.
In addition to gaining
federal funds for mark
eting, the member states
of the council have also
contributed funds to
gain leverage in interna
tional markets.
Briggs said that, in
working through the
U.S. Apple Export
Council, this last year
the Pennsylvania prog
ram was able to send
representatives to Bra
zil. That resulted in the
exporting 0f43,000 car
tons of Pennsylvania
apples through mid-
November.
Last year, Brazil
imported 54,000 cartons
of Pennsylvania apples.
Further, through the
group, Pennsylvania has
been able to receive sup
port to market Pennsyl
vania apples in the
United Kingdom, and
Tiawan, and also to
monitor the market situ
ation in Mexico.
Despite the North
American Free Trade
Agreement, exporting
apples to Mexico has
proved prohibitively
expensive because of
Mexican inspection reg
ulations on imports,
which require Pennsyl
vania to pay and provide
for a Mexican national
to oversee inspections.
According to Briggs,
currently only Washing
ton state with its assess
ment of 23-cents per
bushel of apples sold
fresh can afford to pay
the costs to host a Mexi-
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