October 2008 NHC NEWS A Monthly Bulletin of the Northwest Horticultural Council TRADE POLICY ADRIFT With enormous efforts directed toward repairing a troubled domestic economy, reforming the nation’s health care, and addressing climate change, international trade has not yet proved to be a front line issue for the Obama Administration. Negotiations over the technical rules by which services, intellectual property, manufactured items, and agricultural goods are moved around the world are being viewed at the White House through the prism of the labor union, environmental, and protectionist’s wings of the majority party.  Unsurprisingly these various negotiations are for all practical purposes now stalled.  The Doha Round meanders aimlessly. A NAFTA dispute over a pilot trucking program with Mexico is allowed to linger. Where the White House has made its influence known on international trade policy, decisions often have been of concern to those interested in free trade. September’s setting of punishing tariffs on Chinese tire imports is but the latest example: clearly a decision made with an eye to the United Steelworkers Union. Bilateral trade agreements with Korea and Colombia that were negotiated under the Bush Administration, which need Congressional approval, languish. Even more of concern is talk of expanding international trade measures to global environmental agreements.  For example, placing import tariffs on goods from countries not “green” enough in their climate change policies.  Governments seeking to protect their markets can find any multitude of ways to impose new tariffs and regulations to restrict imports under the feel-good guise of saving the environment. In terms of international trade, this would seem to be a time for working on specific trade disputes, maintaining access to exiting overseas markets, and hoping for a turn away from the nation’s current and pernicious policy of drift. ¨ ORGANIC PRODUCTION At the most basic level organic food production is a philosophical and life style choice, but faced with market demands for certification, in 1980, Washington and Oregon passed legislation defining organic production. Ten years later, a provision of the 1990 Farm Bill, sponsored by Senator Leahy of Vermont and Congressman DeFazio of Oregon, instructed the United States Department of Agriculture to put national organic standards in place.  In 2002 a USDA regulation, acceptable to most--consumers, industry members and environmentalists--was enacted. Demand for organic food is at an all time high as sales jumped from $1 billion in 1991 to over $28 billion in 2006.  The USDA National Organic Program is alive and well.  Nationally, the USDA has accredited fifty-six U.S. organic certification bodies.  Recently, the USDA and Canada signed a historic organic standards equivalency agreement recognizing each country’s organic standards.  Washington State University reports that in 2007 approximately 11,000 acres of tree fruit were organically grown in Washington state with another 9500 acres in transition to organic. In addition, Washington’s own Miles McEvoy, the first employee of Washington State Department of Agriculture’s Organic Food Program, was tapped last month as director of the USDA National Organic Program which is headquartered in Washington D.C. Growth of an industry does not come without challenges.  The USDA National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is increasingly being asked to challenge the culture of the current organic boom by tightening production standards. The NOSB will meet in November to discuss the continual use of antibiotics, pheromones, copper products, chlorine dioxide and other chemicals used by our industry.  It will be up to organic fruit growers in the Northwest to decide whether the potential growth of the organic market segment will be threatened or enhanced by the decisions soon to be made by the NOSB. ¨ October 15 – Foreign Trade Committee meeting, Yakima, Washington. Travel Christian Schlect October 1-5 - Produce Marketing Association’s International Convention and Exposition, Anaheim, California October 27-30 – GlobalGAP Tour 2009, Washington, D.C. Mike Willett October 19-23 – Annual meeting of the North American Plant Protection Organization, Chicago, Illinois. Walking in a wood when it rained was, I think, the only rural image he pleased his fancy with; ‘for,’ says he, ‘after one has gathered the apples in an orchard, one wishes them well baked, and removed to a London eating-house for enjoyment.’ Hester Lynch Piozzi Anecdotes of the Late Samuel Johnson Northwest Horticultural Council 105 South 18th Street, Suite 105 Yakima, Washington 98901, USA Voice: (509) 453-3193, Fax: (509) 457-7615 E-mail general@nwhort.org