USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee 

Meeting Minutes 

Agency/Program Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) | Specialty Crops Program (SCP) 

Meeting Purpose 

The meeting is being convened to examine industry recommendations provided by the Produce 

Marketing Association (PMA) and the United Fresh Produce Association (United Fresh). During 

the two-day FVIAC public meeting held November 3-4, 2021, the industry trade groups jointly 

submitted recommendations for discussion and consideration by FVIAC representatives. This 

virtual meeting will provide FVIAC representatives the opportunity to engage with United FreshPMA (now the International Fresh Product Association, IFPA) stakeholders on the groups' 

suggested recommendations. 

Date/Time February 01, 2022 | 10:00 AM Eastern Time 

Meeting Location Virtual Webinar 

Meeting Facilitator FVIAC Chair Paul Lightfoot and FVIAC Designated Federal Officer (DFO) Darrell Hughes 

Attendees See attendance report (page 2) 

Next Steps (Task, Assigned To) Owner Due Date 

FVIAC Executive Board to finalize recommendations to USDA. CHAIR and DFO Within 90 days 

Discussion 

FVIAC representatives met with industry counterparts and discussed the following suggested recommendations. 

1. U.S. FDA Agriculture Water Rule at OMB 

2. Data collection by USDA on FFVP schools 

3. USDA Procurement/USDA HGAP Requirements 

4. Buy American Requirement 

5. Vaccine Requirements for Federal Contractors 

6. DATA Gap for Fruits and Vegetables at USDA 

7. Update on USDA Specialty Crop Research Committee 

8. Update on State Block Grant Funding Projects for COVID-19 

9. Specialty Crop Block Grant Prioritization 

10. Pandemic Response and Safety Programs 

11. Impact Assessment of Produce Industry Response to COVID 

• The following industry suggested recommendations comments were not incorporated as part of the final 

FVIAC recommendation because recent activities surrounding the topic rendered the matter resolved: 

Numbers 1, 5, and 7. 

• The following industry suggested recommendations were not incorporated as part of the final FVIAC 

recommendation because these topics are action items for the FVIAC to undertake in the future: Numbers 6, 

8, 9 and 10. 

• The following industry suggested recommendations were incorporated as part of the final FVIAC 

recommendation: 2. 3. 4, and 11. 

Page 1 of 2 
 

USDA Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee 

Attendee Report 

Panelist (Speaker) + Attendee Details 

Paul Lightfoot, FVIAC 

Tommy Wilkins, FVIAC 

Julie Masser Ballay, FVIAC 

David Sherrod, FVIAC 

Paul Teague, FVIAC 

Bret Erickson, FVIAC 

David Einstanding, FVIAC 

David Zapf, FVIAC 

George Hamner, FVIAC 

Karla Stockli, FVIAC 

Kay Riley, FVIAC 

Lisa Ford, FVIAC 

Troy Bland, FVIAC 

Cindy Jewel, FVIAC 

Tom Lipetzky, FVIAC 

Brian Kirschenmann, FVIAC 

Charles Wingard, FVIAC 

Derrin Wheeler, FVIAC 

Donn Zea, FVIAC 

Kiley Harper-Larsen, FVIAC 

Michael Janis, FVIAC 

Paul Palmby, FVIAC 

Reade Sievert, FVIAC 

K.C. Ely, FVIAC 

Cathy Burns, IFPA 

Robert Guenther, IFPA 

Jennifer McEntire, IFPA 

Max Teplitski, IFPA 

Mollie Van Lieu, IFPA 

Ken Petersen, USDA 

Heather Pichelman, USDA 

Darrell Hughes, FVIAC-DFO 

Page 2 of 2 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 22, 202 

Federal Register Notice: 2021-21526 

Darrell Hughes 

Designated Federal Office 

Fruit and Vegetable Industry Advisory Committee 

USDA-AMS-Specialty Crops Program, 

1400 Independence Avenue SW, 

Suite 1575, STOP 0235, 

Washington, DC 20250-0235 

Dear Mr. Hughes: 

On behalf of the membership of Produce Marketing Association (PMA) and United Fresh Produce 

Association (United Fresh), we respectfully submit the following comments regarding your 

upcoming advisory committee meeting schedule for November 3-4, 2021. 

PMA is the leading trade association representing companies from every segment of the global 

produce and floral supply chain. PMA helps members grow by providing connections that expand 

business opportunities and increase sales and consumption. 

Founded in 1904, the United Fresh brings together companies across every segment of the fresh 

produce supply chain, including growers, shippers, fresh-cut processors, wholesalers, distributors, 

retailers, foodservice operators, industry suppliers and allied associations. We empower industry 

leaders to shape sound government policy. We deliver the resources and expertise companies need 

to succeed in managing complex business and technical issues. We provide the training and 

development individuals need to advance their careers in produce. Through these endeavors, we 

unite our industry with a common purpose – to build long-term value for our members and grow 

produce consumption. 

As of January 3, 2022, PMA and United Fresh will be creating a single new organization 

representing the global produce and floral communities. Our new association is committed to 

supporting our members in areas including, but not limited to, food safety, sustainability, 

technology, and government policy. 

The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee, which was established in 2001, has been 

one of the industry’s most important tools, ensuring that our voices are heard throughout USDA.

Most importantly, the recommendations coming out of this committee over the last 20 years have 

served as an important platform to recognize important challenges and opportunities of our 

industry and we can partner with USDA to provide solutions. With that understanding, below are 

some important areas that we believe the Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee should address 

in the upcoming and subsequent meetings. 
 

U.S. FDA Agriculture Water Rule at OMB – There is no more important issue for the produce 

industry today than the safety of our food. That is our top priority and why we supported the 

Food Safety Modernization Act. However, it’s been over 10 years since the passage of the Food 

Safety Modernization Act, and over 5 years since the Produce Safety Rule was finalized, but 

FDA has yet to settle on requirements for agricultural water. Currently the “Water Rule” is stuck 

at the Office of Management and Budget for review. Because the USDA AMS HGAP and 

HGAP+ includes standards for ag water that are contingent on FDA’s actions, and because

USDA FAS has been instrumental in educating growers worldwide on the Produce Safety Rule, 

USDA has a vested interest and an opportunity to help growers gain clarity and certainty from 

FDA on the way they will regulate water usage for fresh produce. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Board should request USDA intervene with OMB to 

push for the release of the proposed rule and timely finalization this rule. 

Data collection by USDA on FFVP schools – The Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program was 

authorized in the 2002 Farm Bill and provides a fruit and vegetable snack to elementary school 

students outside the traditional school lunch and breakfast program. Due to its success and 

popularity, Congress has continued to support the program, expanding it nationwide in 2008. 

Despite being a federally funded program there is currently no publicly available data collection 

at USDA indicating which schools participate in the program. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Committee should recommend that USDA FNS create 

a database that includes names of schools that participate in the program, including total 

amount of funding provided to each school, number of students served, and percentage of 

students in school who qualify for free or reduced-price meals. 

USDA Procurement/USDA HGAP Requirements – Produce growers seeking to do business 

with USDA must be audited to the USDA HGAP audit. During the early phases of COVID, 

USDA provided flexibility by allowing growers to be audited by any audit benchmarked to the 

Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI, which is the “gold standard” for audits worldwide). There

are several produce safety audits that have achieved this recognition and many buyers specify 

which audit their suppliers use. USDA is limiting the pool of produce suppliers by only allowing 

one specific audit (the USDA HGAP); many growers are not able to afford multiple audits, and 

as a result, competition may be limited. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Committee should recommend that USDA require that 

potential produce vendors be audited to a GFSI recognized food safety audit scheme 

without specifying that the USDA audit is the only permissible audit. 

Buy American Requirement – USDA’s Buy American requirement for school nutrition

programs requires that unprocessed commodities be U.S. grown or produced and that processed 

commodities be made up of 51% or more domestic product. The two exceptions to the rule are 

for products that are not available domestically in sufficient amounts or when, through a 

competitive bid process, the cost of the domestic product is significantly higher than the non2 
 

 

domestic product. Exceptions must be documented. Uncertainty remains for many school 

nutrition professionals around how USDA may interpret and define the exceptions and 

documentation, leading to challenges at the procurement level. Additionally, many wellintentioned Members of Congress push for an even stricter interpretation of Buy American 

without fully appreciating the consequences on providing students with year-round access to a 

wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

Recommendation: USDA should provide additional and clearer guidance to schools, 

including standardized templates to ensure that schools feel empowered to make 

purchasing decisions in the best interest of their students’ nutrition needs that guarantees 

a wide variety of produce during the school year. 

Vaccine Requirements for Federal Contractors – On Friday September 24, the White House’s 

“Safer Federal Workforce Task Force” issued guidance requiring all federal contractors to ensure 

that 100% of their employees are fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021. The guidance indicated 

that companies only selling products to the federal government while not providing any services 

were not covered by the mandate. However, agencies were “strongly encouraged” to incorporate

a clause requiring compliance with this guidance into contracts or subcontracts for the 

manufacturing of products. 

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service purchased more than $8 billion in food products 

during the 2020/21 fiscal year with over $4 billion in food purchases for distribution to school 

feeding programs. 

If USDA officials acted to incorporate the federal contractor standard (100% employee 

vaccination requirement with no testing option) into all future USDA food purchase invitations, 

no major food company in the entire country would be able to certify that 100% of their 

employees are vaccinated. As a result, they would be unable to participate in any food sales to 

USDA. 

Recommendation: Ask USDA for clarification on this issue and what USDA will ask of 

its contractors. If necessary, establish a recommendation that does not hold food 

companies selling into USDA to the federal contractor vaccination standard. Hold them 

to the same vaccination standard as every other privately owned business. 

DATA Gap for Fruits and Vegetables at USDA – Over the past 20 months USDA’s

information on the commercial fruit and vegetable industry is very limited. This has become very 

apparent as new programs to address COVID-19 issues were being developed. USDA was 

severely handicapped when trying to address some of our challenges compared to other major 

commodities that USDA monitors. This included their lack of data around accurate pricing 

information, supply-chain disruptions, input cost and cost of production data, labor challenges, 

scope of operations, and other issues. 

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Recommendation: Assess what are current USDA programs and departments that collect 

data on the fruit and vegetable industry. Have USDA do an analysis of what is needed for 

better DATA and who should lead that effort at USDA. 

Update on USDA Specialty Crop Research Committee – The Specialty Crop Committee was 

created as a subcommittee of the National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and 

Economics (NAREEE) Advisory Board in accordance with the Specialty Crops Competitiveness 

Act of 2004. The committee was formulated to study the scope and effectiveness of research, 

extension, and economics programs affecting the specialty crop industry. Based on our research, 

the committee has not held a meeting in the last three years, nor has it fully filled committee 

board seats since 2017. 

Recommendation: Urge the Secretary to reestablish this committee and ensure that it is 

fully functional by the end of the year. 

Update on State Block Grant Funding Projects for COVID-19 – As part of the most recent 

COVID-19 relief package passed by Congress (March 2021), USDA was provided an additional 

$97 million in funding through the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program for “to assist 

farmworkers (e.g., for PPE and vaccination costs), projects to fund farmers, food businesses, and 

other relevant entities to respond to risks and supply chain disruption.” In addition, the White 

House and the Office of Management and Budget provided flexibility on all grant programs and 

that they could be used for COVID-19 assistance. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Committee should be given an update on what states 

have done with their last two years of specialty crop block grant funding, including the 

supplemental $97 million in 2021, to address COVID-19 related issues for specialty 

crops in their states. 

Specialty Crop Block Grant Prioritization – The 2008 Farm bill fully funded the Specialty 

Crop State Block Grant Program. Since the 2008 Farm bill over 9,200 projects have been 

awarded in all 50 states and 6 territories. While there is a wide variety of projects that have been 

approved over the last 13 years, there has been very little coordination amongst the states on 

what should be overall priorities for consideration of grant applications. In fact, the only 

guidance in the law is the “enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops.” As an Advisory 

Committee to USDA, your input and guidance could be a useful tool for states to consider as 

they review and approve grant application in their states. 

Recommendation: Create a process whereas the USDA Fruit and Vegetable Advisory 

Committee could recommend what are top priorities for the states to consider as they 

develop and approve specialty crop block grant programs. 

Pandemic Response and Safety Programs – USDA has announced the creation of a $650 

Pandemic Response and Safety (PRS) Grant Program provides grants to specialty crop producers 

and processors, other select producers, meat and other processors, distributors, and farmers 

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markets to respond to coronavirus, including for measures to protect workers against novel 

coronavirus 2019 (COVID–19). The application period closes on November 22, 2021. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Committee should be provided a review of this 

program to better understand its intended goals. In addition, Congress authorized midsized businesses to also be eligible for a program such as this. The Advisory Committee 

should request an update on this effort and when will USDA announce that program. 

Impact Assessment of Produce Industry Response to COVID – In May of 2020 and 2021, 

USDA AMS partnered with 17 organizations representing different sectors of the local and 

regional food system. This resulted in a comprehensive report on the impact of COVID on these 

important parts of the food supply chain. 

Recommendation: The Advisory Committee should recommend USDA AMS partner 

with produce industry to do similar study. 

Subcommittee and Working Groups 

The USDA Fruit and Vegetable Advisory Committee established four subcommittees to address 

several important topics. Based on these subcommittees we would recommend the following 

issues be addressed 

Labor & Production Subcommittee – Discuss the impacts of current labor and immigration 

policies on the access to labor throughout the fruit and vegetable supply chain. Consider 

recommendations that could ease the burden on both production agriculture and the other 

portions of the supply chain to ensure an adequate supply of labor. While USDA is not the 

primary federal agency in this space, they have the opportunity to play a pivotal role in ensuring 

the industry has the essential workers needed. 

• Using USDA and other agency data, identify both the impact of a lack of labor to the 

current industry, the ability to grow the industry and the impact it has had on consumer 

access to fruits and vegetables. 

Consumption Subcommittee – Discuss USDA and federal government setting a consumption 

goal and timeline around fruits and vegetables. Currently, around 1:10 Americans meeting fruit 

and vegetable serving recommendations. In addition, how USDA procurement programs aim to 

address the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations on under-consumed food 

groups. While USDA procurement programs aim to provide foods that fall within DGA 

recommendations, they do not necessarily consider the most under-consumed foods, like fruits 

and vegetables, in procurement and distribution practices. Discuss ways in which USDA can 

address chronically under-consumed food groups through USDA programs. Finally, using 

USDA’s recent research around barriers to healthy eating for low-income and SNAP consumers, 

identify specific ways fruit and vegetable consumption can be addressed in response to each of 

the barriers identified. 

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Food Safety Subcommittee – Please see above regarding food safety priorities. 

We appreciate your consideration of these comments in support of the fresh produce industry. 

Sincerely, 

Robert Guenther 

Senior Vice President Public Policy 

United Fresh Produce Association 

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