Proposed rules discourage negative advertising by farm groups

WASHINGTON – The Agriculture Department wants farmers to fight fair as they compete for foreign customers.

A trade promotion program popular among California farm groups will not subsidize overseas ads that contain "derogatory reference or negative comparison to other U.S. agricultural commodities," rules proposed Tuesday state. Simply put, snark is out.

"We would never do that," said Jean Valentine, who handles overseas marketing for the Dinuba-based California Cling Peach Board. "I'm sure they're just covering all their bases, which they should be doing."

Farm organization representatives Tuesday were hard-pressed to recall any negative overseas ads previously financed by the $200 million-a-year Market Access Program. The negative-ad prohibition, though, is only one of myriad rule changes designed to bring into the 21st century a program established in the mid-1980s.

Web sites and text messages, for instance, could be funded by the Agriculture Department under the new rules that in many cases simply clarify what had previously been left unsaid.

"We've (already) used the Web site quite a lot in the Canadian market," Valentine said.

The Market Access Program was created, under a different name, by California lawmakers, and California agricultural organizations remain the biggest beneficiaries. At least 17 different California-based companies and trade groups received program funding last September.

The grants ranged from $237,725 for the cling peach board and $3.5 million for the California Table Grape Commission to $4.2 million for Sunkist.

The money is matched by private funding and pays for overseas product promotion efforts. These can cover everything from a wine-tasting and a cooking demonstration to radio and television ads. In part, the new rules take account of the new technologies now being used in marketing.

Podcasting, for instance, was barely even a word when the Agriculture Department last revised its Market Access Program rules in 1998. Now, federal officials want to add the Internet-based broadcasting to the list of activities for which farm groups can receive public funding.

Wireless e-mail devices and personal digital assistants that have surged in popularity over the past decade, such as the now omnipresent BlackBerry, have likewise been added to the list of reimbursable purchases.

Farm groups seeking Market Access Program funds will have to present more detailed information in how they plan to select and promote brand name products. In the past, questions have arisen over the use of taxpayer subsidies in support of brands like E&J Gallo wines, Dole fresh fruit and M&M candies. In recent years, the program has been tightening access for brand-name promotions.

The proposed new rules are open for public comment through Nov. 9.