What do avocadoes have to do with national security? Nothing!

One of the things the federal government is supposed to be doing is protecting the nation. One of the things the federal government is not supposed to be doing is marketing avocadoes.

But there it is, looking after the marketing of avocadoes grown in southern Florida.

In a Federal Register announcement out this morning, the Agricultural Marketing Service, part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is initiating a referendum among producers of avocadoes in south Florida to see if they want the marketing order regulating the handling of their avocadoes to continue.

What are marketing orders? According to the USDA:

Federal marketing orders are locally administered by committees made up of growers and/or handlers, and often a member of the public. Marketing order regulations, initiated by industry and enforced by USDA, bind the entire industry in the geographical area regulated if approved by producers and the Secretary of Agriculture.

What that means is that everybody producing a crop in a certain area has to pay in to a marketing and promotion fund for uses dictated by the majority of producers in that area. Big agribusinesses get to force the small ones to pay for programs that benefit the big agribusinesses because they’re usually the majority of producers and they set the rules. Result? Less competition and less variety in the crops that come to market.

The Agriculture Marketing Service is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which is funded by the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. The Senate version of this bill is S. 3289.

Here’s the current vote on the bill. Click to vote, comment, learn more, or edit the wiki article about the bill.