Political Quotes

“I represent pear country in the northwest, at least in the State of Oregon. In the great Hood River Valley and down in the Jackson Road Valley, Jackson County and elsewhere across my district, they grow tremendous, tasty pears, many of which find their way into special packages from Harry and David, among other companies. Our pear growers are trying to be innovative in terms of how they market their products. Many individual growers now are growing organic fruit, and many are taking it upon themselves to market their own products to the public, as opposed to necessarily going through big processors, although, obviously, the bulk of the fruit still is dealt with that way. But they are looking for new ways to bring value added to their products. The industry, therefore, is seeking to consolidate their promotional activity under a single Federal marketing order, and the current statute requires that any marketing order that assesses processing pears must have equal representation from producers and processors on its governing board, and yet the processors pay nothing into this process.”