Dumped Cherries a Reminder of Awfulness of USDA Marketing Orders
6th August 2016
The CIAB declares it “was created to assist the industry in dealing with the erratic production cycle of red tart cherries and to improve returns to the growers and processors of red tart cherries in the United States.” Its “primary goal is to establish orderly marketing conditions by alleviating supply/demand imbalances,” reads a 1985 report issued by the GAO.
In service of this goal, the board oversees all cherry handling in at least seven states. It sets annual quotas for tart cherries, establishing the portion of each year’s cherries that may reach the marketplace.
A marketing order—and cherries represent just one of many enforced by the USDA—is just that: an order. “A marketing order, with or without handler approval, is binding on all handlers in the industry,” reads a 1975 USDA report on marketing orders. Compliance is not optional.
And the ghost of Franklin Roosevelt arises to jerk on your chains.