FKESH CUT FLOWERS AND FRESH CUT GREENS , yj ^ PROMOTION AND INFORMATION ACT OF 1993 Y 4. AS 8/1:103-17 Fresh Cut Flouers and Fresh Cut Cre... SlRINGt BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPECIALTY CROPS AND NATURAL RESOURCES . OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 1738 MAY 12, 1993 Serial No. 103-17 Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 70-550 WASHINGTON : 1993 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOttice SuperintendentofDocuments.CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-041297-8 V FRESH CUT FLOWERS AND FRESH CUT GREENS PROMOTION AND INFORMATION ACT OF 1993 4. AG 8/1:103-17 ^RING esh Cut Flouers and Fresh Cut 9re. . . BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPECIALTY CROPS AND NATURAL RESOURCES . OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATR^S ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 1738 MAY 12, 1993 Serial No. 103-17 ''" '-" ;Ct77>#^.v m 13 Fri'^ Printed for the use of the Committee on Agriculture U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 70-550 WASHINGTON : 1993 ForsalebytheU.S.GovernmentPrintingOffice SuperintendentofDocuments.CongressionalSalesOffice.Washington,DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-041297-8 COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE E (KIKA) DE LA GARZA, Texas, Chairman GEORGE E. BROWN, Jr., California, PAT ROBERTS, Kansas, Vice Chairman Ranking Minority Member CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina BILL EMERSON, Missouri GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma STEVE GUNDERSON, Wisconsin DAN GLICKMAN, Kansas TOM LEWIS, Florida CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas ROBERT F. (BOB) SMITH, Oregon HAROLD L. VOLKMER, Missouri LARRY COMBEST, Texas TIMOTHYJ. PENNY, Minnesota WAYNE ALLARD, Colorado TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota BILL BARRETT, Nebraska BILL SARPALIUS, Texas JIM NUSSLE, Iowa JILL L. LONG, Indiana JOHN A. BOEHNER, Ohio GARYA. CONDIT, California THOMAS W. EWING, Illinois COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California CALVIN M. DOOLEY, California JACK KINGSTON. Georgia EVA M. CLAYTON, North Carolina BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia DAVID MINGE, Minnesota JAY DICKEY, Arkansas EARL F. HILLIARD, Alabama RICHARD W. POMBO, California JAY INSLEE, Washington CHARLES T. CANADY, Florida THOMAS BARLOW J. III, Kentucky EARL POMEROY, North Dakota TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania CYNTHIA A. McKINNEY, Georgia SCOTTY BAESLER, Kentucky KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida SANFORD D. BISHOP, Jr., Georgia PAT WILLIAMS, Montana BLANCHE M. LAMBERT, Arkansas Professional Staff DiANNE Powell, StaffDirector Vernie Hubert, ChiefCounsel and Legislative Director Gary R. Mitchell, Minority StaffDirector James A. Davis, Press Secretary Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Natural Resources CHARLIE ROSE, North Carolina, Chairman SCOTTY BAESLER, Kentucky, TOM LEWIS, Florida Vice Chairman BILL EMERSON, Missouri SANFORD D. bishop, Jr., Georgia JOHN T. DOOLITTLE, California GEORGE E. BROWN, Jr., California JACK KINGSTON, Georgia GARY A. CONDIT, California BOB GOODLATTE, Virginia EVAM. CLAYTON, North Carolina JAY DICKEY, Arkansas KAREN L. THURMAN, Florida RICHARD W. POMBO, California DAVID MINGE, Minnesota JAY INSLEE, Washington EARL POMEROY, North Dakota GLENN ENGLISH, Oklahoma CHARLES W. STENHOLM, Texas COLLIN C. PETERSON, Minnesota (II) CONTENTS Page H.R. 1738, a bill to authorize the establishment of a fresh cut flowers and fresh cut greens promotion and consumer information program for the benefit ofthe floricultural industry and others, and forotherpurposes 2 Lewis, Hon. Tom, a Representative in Congress from the State of Florida, opening statement 57 Rose, Hon. Charlie, a Representative in Congress from the State of North Carolina, prepared statement 56 Witnesses Brothers, Jeff, president, Monterey Bay Bouquet, Inc 79 Prepared statement 154 Clayton, Kenneth C, Deputy Administrator, Marketing Programs, Agricul- tural Marketing Service, U.S. DepartmentofAgriculture 58 Prepared statement 90 Euser, Bob, president, Concerned Domestic Flower Growers and Handlers 65 Prepared statement 99 Haight, Dwight, on behalfofthe Association ofFloral Importers ofFlorida 77 Prepared statement 152 Kremp, Charles, on behalfofthe Society ofAmerican Florists and the Amer- ican Floral Marketing Council 80 Prepared statement 157 Mears, Dave, on behalf of the Wholesale Florists and Floral Suppliers of America 75 Prepared statement 148 Ninomiya, David, secretary. Concerned Domestic Flower Growers and Han- dlers 68 Prepared statement Ill Stewart, Terence P., special counsel. Floral Trade Council 68 Prepared statement 136 (III) FRESH CUT FLOWERS AND FRESH CUT GREENS PROMOTION AND INFORMATION ACT OF 1993 WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 1993 House of Representatives, Subcommittee on Specialty Crops AND Natural Resources, Committee on Agriculture, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:10 p.m., in room 1302, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. Charlie Rose (chair- man ofthe subcommittee) presiding. Present: Representatives Baesler, Thurman, Stenholm, Peterson, Lewis, Kingston, Goodlatte, and Pombo. Also present: Representative E (Kika) de la Garza, chairman of the committee. Staff present: Glenda L. Temple, clerk; Keith Pitts, Xavier Equihua, and Stacy Steinitz. Mr. Rose. The Subcommittee on Specialty Crops and Natural Re- sources will please come to order. The purpose of this hearing is to consider H.R. 1738, the Fresh Cut Flowers and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act. The bill was introduced by the ranking minority member of this subcommittee, the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Lewis, and before I make my opening remarks, I'll give him an opportunity to say anything he'd like to say. [The prepared statement ofMr. Rose and H.R. 1738 follow:] (1) 103d congress H.R.1738 1st Session To authorize the estabhshment of a fresh cut flowers and fresh cut greens promotion and consumer information program for the benefit of the floricultural industrj^and others, and forotherpurposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES April 20, 1993 Mr. Lewis of Florida (for himself, Mr. Stenholm, Mr. DE la Garza, Mr. Payne of New Jersey, Mr. Hastert, Mr. HOUGHTON, Mr. English of Oklahoma, Ms. Danner, Mr. Kopetski, Mr. Cuxmkgilui, Mr. Peter- son ofMinnesota, Mr. Canady, Mr. Allard, and Mr. Boehner) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Agri- culture A BILL To authorize the estabhshment of a fresh cut flowers and fresh cut greens promotion and consumer information pro- gram for the benefit of the floricultural industiy and others, and for other purposes. 1 Be it enacted by tJie Senate and House ofRepresenta- 2 tives oftfie United States ofAmenca in Congress assembled, 3 SECTION 1. SHORTTITLE. 4 This Act may be cited as the "Fresh Cut Flowers 5 and Fresh Cut Greens Promotion and Information Act of 6 1993". 2 1 SEC. 2. FINDINGSAND DECLARATION OF POLICY. — — 2 (a) Findings. Congress finds tliat 3 (1) fresh cut flowers and fresh cut greens are 4 an integral part of Hfe in the United States, are en- 5 joyed by milhons of persons everj^ year for a mul- 6 titude of special purposes (especially important per- 7 sonal events), and contribute a natural and beautiful 8 element to the human environment; 9 (2) cut flowers and cut gi-eens are produced by 10 many individual producers throughout the United 11 States as well as in other countries, and are handled 12 and marketed by thousands of small-sized and me- 13 dium-sized businesses, and such production, han- 14 dling, and marketing constitute a key segment of the 15 United States horticultural industi^^ and thus a sig- 16 nificant part of the Nation's overall agi'icultural 17 economy; 18 (3) handlers play a vital role in the marketing 19 of cut flowers and cut greens in that they purchase 20 most of the cut flowers and cut greens marketed by 21 producers, prepare the cut flowers and cut greens 22 for retail consumption, serve as intermediary' be- 23 tween source of product and retailer, otherwise fa- 24 cilitate the entrj^ of cut flowers and cut greens into 25 the current of domestic commerce, and add effi- 26 ciencies to the market process that ensure the avail- HR 1738 IH 3 1 ability of a much gi-eater variety of product to retail- 2 ers and consumers; 3 (4) it is widely recognized that it is in the pub- 4 lie interest and important to the Nation's agi'icul- 5 tural economy to provide an adequate, steady supply 6 of cut flowers and cut greens at reasonable prices to 7 the consumers of the Nation; 8 (5) cut flowers and cut gi'eens move in inter- 9 state and foreign commerce, and cut flowers and cut 10 greens that do not move in such channels of com- 11 merce but only in intrastate commerce directly affect 12 interstate commerce in these articles; 13 (6) the maintenance and expansion of existing 14 markets and the development of new or improved 15 markets or uses for cut flowers and cut gi-eens are 16 needed to presei've and strengthen the economic via- 17 bility of the domestic cut flowers and cut gi-eens in- 18 dustry for the benefit of producers, handlers, retail- 19 ers, and the entire floral industiy; 20 (7) generic programs of promotion and 21 consumer information can be effective in maintain- 22 ing and developing markets for cut flowers and cut 23 greens, and have the advantage of equally enhancing 24 the market position for all cut flowers and cut 25 gi'eens marketed; BR 1738 IH