USDA Seeks Nominees for the South Texas Onion Committee

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.