Baking & Snack - November 2007 - 12

NEWS FRONT
Johanns resigns from USDA

2007 economic census nears

President Bush announced the resignation of Mike Johanns as
secretary of agriculture. Mr. Johanns, who was sworn in as the 28th
secretary of agriculture in 2005, is expected to return to Nebraska
and potentially run for the Senate. Born in Iowa as the son of a
farmer, Mr. Johanns served as Nebraska's 38th governor before joining the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
"He brought focus and energy to the department," said President Bush. "He was a champion of renewable fuels. He expanded
the department's commitment to conservation. He worked endlessly to open up foreign markets for American beef. He provided
timely assistance to farmers and ranchers devastated by natural
disasters. I couldn't have asked for a better secretary of agriculture," he continued.
During his first year on the job, Mr. Johanns successfully convinced nearly half of the 119 countries that closed their markets to US beef after one instance of a BSE-infected cow in the
US to renew inports. In 2005, Mr. Johanns hosted 21 of 52 farm bill
forums held in 48 states to gain insight from producers into how
to best reshape the farm bill.
"I do want to say something on behalf of farmers and ranchers
across America," Mr. Johanns said. "Thank you for recognizing that
rural America is a very special place. One particular rural state has
remained especially near and dear to my heart; it is a place where
the richness of the land is only equaled by the character of its people.
Of course, I'm speaking of the place that Stephanie and I and my
family call home, the great state of Nebraska."
President Bush asked Chuck Conner, USDA's deputy secretary, to
serve as acting secretary. Mr. Conner grew up on a farm in Indiana
and has worked to develop and promote farm policy in his current
role. He assisted Mr. Johanns in leading farm bill listening sessions
around the country.
Before joining USDA, Mr. Conner worked on the National Economic Council as a special assistant to the president for agriculture
trade and food assistance. He was also president of the Corn Refiners Association and held various staff positions with the Senate
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry.

This month, more than 4 million American businesses received the
2007 economic census forms, including 200,000 manufacturers. To
underscore the benefits and importance of participation in the census,
the Census Bureau launched a new Web site, business.census.gov. Businesses were asked to report information regarding employment,
payroll and the value of goods and services sold. Forms must be
returned by February 2008.
"Economic census forms that businesses receive in December
will tell us how we are changing as a nation," said Thomas Mesenbourg Jr., Census Bureau associate director for economic programs.
"Important economic indicators, such as gross domestic product,
are directly related to the quality of data we get from businesses in
every industry and every locality."
Census data provides the hard figures used by businesses when
they consider expansion into new regions or markets. Businesses can
learn benchmark values from the economic census to assess where
they stand in the marketplace and to research market shares, salaries,
product and sales trends and site locations.

WTO launches food safety
information tool
The World Trade Organization launched the SPS Information Management System, a tool allowing users to track food safety as well as
animal and plant health and safety information. Specifically, the system will have information on measures member governments have
given to WTO on specific trade concerns they have raised, documents of WTO's Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures Committee,
member government's national enquiry points and their authorities
handling notification.
The goal of the system is to grant member governments and other
interested parties to find SPS information they need. The internal version of the system also helps the WTO secretariat produce official
documents such as SPS notifications and helps the office with faster
and more comprehensive analyses and reporting on SPS matters. The
system may be accessed at spsims.wto.org.

American Pan, Sasa-Demarle forge cooperative agreement
Sasa-Demarle, Inc., Cranbury, NJ, the North American subsidiary of
Groupe SASA Industrie, and American Pan Co, Urbana, OH, a subsidiary of The Bundy Companies, reached an agreement to establish
a baking tray service center within the American Pan facility. The
service center will primarily focus on refurbishing baguette baking
trays and flat screens used in Mecatherm-style baking systems.
"Demarle will provide
us the new inserts, and we
will refurbish the frame
with the new insert,"
said Gil Bundy, president
of American Pan. The
agreement is very benefi-

14 / BAKING & SNACK / November 2007

cial for customers, saving them significant replacement time and
cost. "There is no longer a need to ship the pans to France to be refurbished," Mr. Bundy added. "Each company employs its expertise,
and the result is expedited, lower-cost pan replacement."
The service center will feature insert replacement for baking pans
with Bi-flon 60 rubber silicone coatings for the 800-by-600-mm
standard-size pan.

http://business.census.gov http://spsims.wto.org

Baking & Snack - November 2007

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