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- Preoccupied with Promotion?
- On June 25, the United States Supreme Court struck down a federal law that requires mushroom producers to pay into a government fund supporting generic advertising. The mushroom producer members had decided as a group to pay for advertising to encourage people to eat mushrooms.
But, citing the generic nature of the order, the court ruled in favor of a plaintiff that hadn’t paid fees in nearly five years. Now, according to media reports and promotion order foes, marketing orders are holding their breath waiting for the next order to fall. Will it be my program?
In their decision, the court avoided upsetting a previous appeals court distinction between the generic mushroom promotion and the regulated California tree fruit industry promotion. Promotion groups across the country are reported to be sorting out the implications of the court’s decision. They are trying to determine if similarly constructed commodity programs are now open to identical challenges.
What has been your experience with marketing orders? What state and national promotion programs are important to you as a vegetable grower? When the marketing orders are established in a democratic fashion, should we question them periodically with elections, like we do our elected officials? Or would that threat of support withdrawal keep away the professionals that make our orders work?
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- Question of the Month:
- What has been your experience with marketing orders? What state and national promotion programs are important to you as a vegetable grower?
E-mail your responses to this question or other issues to email.
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