You might remember the good old UglyRipe and the battle its developers were having with the Florida Tomato Committee. Well it looks like tasty but ugly wins out.
The tomato’s developer, Joe Procacci, had been at odds over the tomato with the FTC, a group of competing growers sanctioned by federal law. The FTC is empowered to determine all size and shape standards for tomatoes entering the U.S. market from mid-October to mid-June, the time of year when many Americans claim they’re unable to find a tasty tomato. For the last three years, the FTC has found that the UglyRipe does not meet its rigorous standards, which are based on size and shape, but not taste. The FTC rejection meant that the tomatoes were prohibited for sale outside of the Florida growing region during the winter months.
The new USDA rule, published in today’s (January 17) Federal Register, amends the Florida Tomato Marketing Order to exempt the UglyRipe from the shape portion of the USDA grade standards as long as the UglyRipe is grown, packed, and distributed under USDA’s Identity Preservation Program (IPP). The IPP uses the unique genetic fingerprint of a produce variety to assure that it is in fact the product claimed by its grower. The UglyRipe will still have to meet all of the other grade standards imposed under the marketing order.
If you’re interested in acres of food booths then Green Week is the place to be. It’s really hard to convey how large this show is. This booth is just a representative sample of what you’ll find here. 
Right after our sushi lunch which did include some of the best sake I’ve ever tasted (really didn’t think I liked sake until now) I got to interview Yamada Masaru who is one of the main organizers for the 
After getting some proposals out and doing a little email catch up this morning I got to the Green Week press center in time for an excellent Japanese box lunch. The IFAJ executive committee was given a presentation on this fall’s 
It got a little late out in Berlin last night with my IFAJ buddies. Here’s a few of them. We braved the rain and wind to go out to a very nice dinner. 
The first image that came to my mind when I saw this was of a very relaxed and happy farmer harvesting his crop while listening to some cool tunes on his iPhone. I wonder if it’s going to happen. I wonder how you would market this crop and where. I wonder a lot of things sometimes.
Here’s one of the latest reports from Paul McKellips, Global Outreach Officer, US Embassy Baghdad, The Green Room – Public Affairs GO Team. Like a lot of what Paul is finding out, there’s way more good going on in Iraq than our mainstream media would like you to think. I guess that re-building an agricultural industry isn’t juicy news but I think it is.
It’s good to see the 
We heard from a lot of politicians today but the one I think who had the clearest message was the EU Commissioner of Agriculture Mariann Fischer Boel. She’s a pretty straight talking lady and I recorded her whole press conference for you. Later in the afternoon I got to interview her personally too.
The biggest press conference of the day is taking place right now in the ICC center next to the press rooms. Just finishing up is Germany’s Federal Minister of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture, Horst Seehofer. He’s seated second from the left.