USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) will conduct the referendum by mail ballot. Ballots and voting instructions will be mailed on or before Jan. 6, 2014, to all eligible individuals who produced, handled, or imported watermelons between Jan. 1, 2012, through Dec. 31, 2012, the representative period, and who currently produce, handle, or import watermelons.
Producers must be engaged in growing 10 acres or more of watermelons and importers must import 150,000 or more pounds of watermelons annually. Importers who import less than 150,000 pounds of watermelons annually and did not apply for and receive reimbursements of assessments during the representative period are eligible to vote in the referendum.
Eligible producers, handlers or importers who do not receive a ballot by Jan. 13, 2014, should contact AMS referendum agent, Jeanette.Palmer@ams.usda.gov.
The Watermelon Research and Promotion Act requires that a referendum be conducted before changes to the plan go into effect and that the amendment be approved by a majority of producers, handlers and importers of watermelons voting in the referendum.
For more information, contact the Referendum Agent, Promotion and Economics Division, Fruit and Vegetable Program, 1400 Independence Avenue, S.W., Room 1406-S, Stop 0244, Washington, D.C. 20250-0244; telephone: 202-720-9915; toll free: 888-720-9917. Copies of the proposed amendment to the Watermelon Research and Promotion Plan can be viewed at www.regulations.gov.
Source: USDA Agricultural Marketing Service press release