The Annual Meeting of the General Membership of the Pennsylvania Vegetable Growers Association will be held on Wednesday, February 1, at 11:30 in the Crystal Room of the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey. All members are asked to attend the meeting.
Traditionally, the Annual Meeting had included the election of members of the Board of Directors. However, starting five years ago, the Directors are now elected by a mail ballot which all members have received in the mail with their dues renewal notices. The terms of Fred Dymond III, Christopher Harner, Kenneth Martin, David Miller, John Shenk and Jeffrey Stoltzfus expire at the Annual Meeting this year. All are eligible for re-election although Mr. Dymond has chosen not to seek re-election. The Leadership and Recognition Committee has nominated all the incumbents plus Peter Flynn of West Chester, Alan Kemmerer of Berwick, Rita Resick of Somerset and Joel Weaver of Windber for election. Write-in votes are also allowed. Six of the candidates will be elected to three-year terms on the Board of Directors. Ballots must be postmarked by January 15, 2017 and the results will be announced at the Annual Meeting. All members are urged to vote in the election.
The Board of Directors is proposing a change to the Association’s constitution that will allow the Board to appoint up to two additional members at large to the Board. When the mail-ballot election system was instituted the Leadership and Recognition Committee has adopted the practice of nominating several more candidates that seats available. Obviously, the vote of the members determines who is elected but the results may result in certain groups (such as potato growers, processing growers, berry growers, women, etc.) or areas of the state not being represented on the Board. Allowing the Board to appoint additional directors would allow them to fill such representation gaps or perhaps appoint someone with expertise in a certain area, such as someone with financial or legal knowledge. Thus the Board is proposing to change Article IV, Sections 2 and 3 as follows:
Section 2 The number of member-elected Directors shall not be less than 15. Their terms shall be staggered with one-third being elected by ballot by the members each year to serve terms of three years. The Board may appoint up to two additional “at large” voting Directors to serve terms of three years. Election procedures and term limits are to be determined and approved by the Directors and stated in the Association’s By-Laws. Terms shall begin and end on the dates of the annual meeting. Mid-term vacancies shall be filled by the Directors either at the next meeting of the Directors following the vacancy or by balloting through email, post or telecom, with the person elected serving the remainder of the unexpired term.
Section 3 Two-thirds of the members of the Board of Directors shall be vegetable or small fruit growers. The Directors should reasonably represent the different geographic regions and the different segments of the industry. The Board shall use its “at large” appointments to add diversity to the Board membership.
At the Annual Meeting, the members will also receive reports on membership, finances, the Farm Show food booth and the other activities of the Association.
The following additions to the Association’s policy resolutions are being proposed for adoption by the members at the Annual Meeting. The underlined text is to be added to the resolutions.
State Issues
Surplus Food
- Supporting an increase in the State Food Purchase Program budget of $5 million to allow food banks to purchase and process more Pennsylvania surplus food products through the Pennsylvania Agricultural Surplus System (PASS) Program.
Wildlife Crop Damage
- Opposing hunting on Sundays with the exception of hunting crow, coyote and fox, as well as woodchuck in cultivated fields with express written permission of the landowner.
Labor
- Supporting a requirement that all employees for whom unemployment compensation contributions are made be eligible to receive compensation only from the at-fault employer within the base year.
Right to Farm
- Opposing the ability of municipalities to require permits for the harvesting of any agricultural commodity.
Transportation
- Supporting the inclusion of questions in the Pennsylvania driver’s test about safe driving practices in the presence of farm equipment, dump trucks, tractor trailers and other large machinery encountered on public roads, including a question on wide turns by large vehicles.
Solid Waste Management
- Supporting the regulation of food waste used in agricultural facilities for digesters or composting as agricultural waste rather than as municipal waste under the Solid Waste Management Act.
Public Utilities
- Supporting requirements for the control of noxious weeds along roads and other right-of-ways while minimizing drift and off-target movement to adjacent croplands.
State and Federal Issues
Food Safety and Pesticides
- Supporting the participation of the state Department of Agriculture in the DriftWatch program to mitigate the potential problems as a result of the registration of dicamba and 2,4,D products for use on genetically modified soybeans.
Wetlands
- Supporting a uniform standard for wetland determination by USDA, the Army Corps of Engineers, and EPA.
Flood Insurance
- Supporting the exemption of agricultural buildings from FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program insurance surcharge.
Biotechnology
- Opposing registration requirements for farmers utilizing GMO technology.
Farm Equipment
- Supporting legislation requiring that all farm equipment manufacturers make diagnostic, service and technical information/software available to machinery owners and independent service technicians.