Most Producers Oppose Current Form of COOL, Say Grocers

10/16/2003 Most Producers Oppose Current Form of COOL, Say Grocers - 10/14 AgOnline

The survey was commissioned by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI), a group that represents major grocery retailers and wholesalers mainly in the US, Canada and Latin America.

Asked if the bill will increase overall US producer sales, 53% of the respondents said they are "not very" or "not at all" confident that sales will increase under the new law, while 41% are "very" or "somewhat" confident. Some 39% of respondents said they believe the potential benefits of the new law will outweigh its costs.

In measuring overall awareness of certain costs associated with the law, 48% said they are familiar with USDA's estimate that the record keeping required by COOL could cost the food industry $2 billion the first year and $1.5 billion every year thereafter.

The finding shows that figure sticks in people's minds, despite a report released by the General Accounting Office last month that called USDA's estimates "questionable and not well supported."

"USDA could provide no documentation to support its estimates for the number of hours needed to develop and maintain a record-keeping system, and it assumed an hourly rate of $50 for processors to carry out these tasks, which was more than double the hourly rates it used in recent estimates for other programs," the GAO report said.

GAO is the non-partisan research arm of Congress.

Related Link: http://www.agriculture.com

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