USDA reviews seven petitions for trade assistance

USDA reviews seven petitions for trade assistance The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service has accepted petitions from seven industry groups requesting trade adjustment assistance for alleged declines in domestic producer prices by more than 20 percent due to imports.
   Petitions were filed by a freshwater prawn producers group in Kentucky; the National Alfalfa Alliance of Kennewick, Wash., representing alfalfa seed producers in California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming; the North Carolina Fisheries Association in New Bern, N.C.; and Southeastern Fisheries Association in Tallahassee, Fla.
   The Tropical Fruit Growers of South Florida filed two petitions: one representing a group of fresh lychee producers and another representing a group of fresh longan growers.
   The Foreign Agricultural Service will hold a public hearing in Washington on March 2 for a group of Virginia apple growers, which will present published price lists of local concentrated apple juice processors, to further back their trade adjustment assistance petition.
   If the Foreign Agricultural Service’s determinations are positive, the petitioners’ members will be eligible to apply to the USDA’s Farm Service Agency for technical help at no cost and adjustment assistance payments.