Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler sits down each week with Southern Farm Network’s Rhonda Garrison to discuss “Today’s Topic.”
State agriculture commissioners, secretaries and directors from across the U.S. have converged on North Carolina this week for their annual meeting.
Commissioner Troxler is wrapping up his one-year term as president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, and the president’s state plays host to the meeting, which is taking place in Asheville. More than 220 representatives of these departments have registered for this meeting.
NASDA works on a wide variety of agricultural policy issues at the national level. One of the topics of discussion this week is implementation of the new federal food safety rules. States are going to be heavily involved in educating farmers and businesses about these rules and helping them comply with the regulations. NASDA is proposing a funding model to FDA so that states will have the resources needed to conduct education and inspections once the new produce safety rules take effect in a few years.
Another topic of discussion is USDA’s requirements for Country of Origin Labeling, also known as COOL, for meat products. Some aspects of the USDA’s final rule, which came out in May, are very contentious. In fact, some aspects of the rule have already spurred a lawsuit by both U.S. and Canadian meat industry groups.
Click on the audio player below to listen to Commissioner Troxler and Rhonda talk about the NASDA meeting and his year of leading the group.
[Audio:http://info.ncagr.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/Troxler_9-10.mp3|titles=Today’s Topic for Sept. 10]
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