Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today appointed seven members and five alternates to serve on the National Processed Raspberry Council. The appointees will serve 3-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2017, and ending on Dec. 31, 2019.
Newly appointed members to represent producers from states producing a minimum of three million pounds of raspberries for processing are Matt Simonian, of Lynden, Wash., and Julieann Schedeen, of Boring, Ore.
Reappointed to represent producers from these states are John S. Clark and Rolf Haugen, of Lynden, Wash.
Newly appointed alternate members from these states are Santpal Aulakh, Joe Vanderpol and John Vander Veen, of Lynden, Wash. Erin Thoeny, of Woodland, Wash., is reappointed as an alternate.
Reappointed importer members are Karen Holzberg, of Atlanta, Ga., and Richard Rubin, of Quebec, Canada.
Reappointed as a foreign producer member is Antonio Dominguez, of Santiago, Chile. Newly appointed as the alternate foreign producer member is Predrag Orescanin, of Zemun-Belgrade, Serbia.
Board members selected by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture administer the program. USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) provides oversight of the National Processed Raspberry Council in accordance with the Commodity Promotion, Research and Information Act of 1996 and the Processed Raspberry Promotion, Research, and Information Order. USDA encourages board membership that reflects the diversity of the individuals served by the programs.
Since 1966, Congress has authorized the establishment of 22 research and promotion boards that are industry-funded and empower agricultural industries, including the forest products industry, with a framework to pool resources and combine efforts to develop new markets, strengthen existing markets, and conduct important research and promotion activities. AMS provides oversight, paid for by industry assessments, which helps ensure fiscal responsibility, program efficiency and fair treatment of participating stakeholders.
More information about the National Processed Raspberry Council is available online at https://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/research-promotion/raspberries, or from AMS’ Specialty Crops Program, Promotion and Economics Division at (202) 720-9915.
For more information about research and promotion programs, visit www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/research-promotion.