The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking nominees for the South Texas Onion Committee to fill two producer member seats and one handler member seat in District 1 and one producer member and one handler member seat in District 2, along with their respective alternates. The committee’s nomination meeting will be held virtually on Aug. 19, 2024. The appointed members will serve a two-year term ending July 31, 2026.
Only producers may participate in designating producer nominees and only handlers may participate in naming handler nominees. Producer members and alternates cannot have a proprietary interest in or be employees of a handler organization.
For nomination information, contact Executive Director, Dante Galeazzi at 956-584-9331 or dante.galeazzi@texipa.org, or USDA Marketing Specialist Delaney Fuhrmeister at (863) 324-3375 or Delaney.Fuhrmeister@usda.gov.
The marketing order authorizes quality regulations, research and promotion programs and pack and container regulations for onions grown in South Texas. The committee consists of eight producer members and five handler members, with one alternate for each seat. More information about the committee is available on the 959 South Texas Onions webpage on the Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) website or on the committee’s website at southtexasonions.com.
Authorized by the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, marketing orders are industry-driven programs that help producers and handlers achieve marketing success by leveraging their own funds to design and execute programs that they would not be able to do individually. AMS provides oversight to fruit, vegetable and specialty crops marketing orders and agreements to help ensure fiscal accountability and program integrity.
AMS policy is that diversity of the boards, councils and committees it oversees should reflect the diversity of their industries in terms of the experience of members, methods of production and distribution, marketing strategies and other distinguishing factors, including but not limited to individuals from historically underserved communities, that will bring different perspectives and ideas to the table. Throughout the full nomination process, the industry must conduct extensive outreach, paying particular attention to reaching underserved communities and consider the diversity of the population served and the knowledge, skills and abilities of the members to serve a diverse population.
USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender