January 7, 2000

A recent decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati that ruled a mushroom checkoff violated the First Amendment rights of a large grower may have ramifications for the other 12 commodity checkoffs administered by the Agriculture Department.

The panel held that because mushrooms are not controlled under a regulated USDA marketing order, "coerced payments for advertising" by the checkoff organization were a violation of Bells, Tenn.-based United Foods "commercial speech" rights.

The ruling only applies to mushrooms, but the court’s reasoning could conceivably be applied to similar commodity programs, including beef, cotton, dairy products, eggs, fluid milk, honey, limes, watermelons, peanuts, pork, potatoes and soybeans.

The $1 billion per year checkoff system has recently taken tremendous heat from a vocal minority of grower-opponents. Some fear the decision could give opponents more steam, while threatening programs in the development stage for blueberries, olive oil, lamb and wool.

Fiscal 1999 U.S. agricultural exports of $49.1 billion were $4.6 billion less that in 1998, a 9 percent decline. Imports, however, rose slightly to $37.4 billion.

The Environmental Protection Agency officially released late in November the preliminary risk assessment for chlorpyrifos, more commonly known as Lorsban or Dursban. The organophosphate was in the 60-day comment period for preliminary risk assessment at press time.

Dow Agro-Sciences, the registrant for Lorsban, has found numerous errors and omissions of critical data that significantly skewed the preliminary risk assessment, which stated the worker, ecological, drinking water and residential risk are all over acceptable levels. Any risk concerns could lead to the loss of uses of the product.

Chlorpyrifos is the organophosphate pesticide with the most products registered in the country—a total of 822. It is one of the most widely used pesticides in the country.