USDA Suspends California Kiwifruit Marketing Order After Grower Vote

California kiwifruit handlers will no longer be required to meet federal quality, packaging, assessment and reporting requirements beginning Dec. 31 after growers voted against continuing the industry’s federal marketing order.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Sept. 30 that it is suspending provisions of the California Kiwifruit Marketing Order for the 2026-27 crop year and plans to begin the formal process of terminating the program.

Beginning Dec. 31, handlers will no longer have to comply with the order’s quality requirements, pack and container rules, remit assessments or submit reports on the kiwifruit they handle.

The change also affects imported fruit.

Because federal law requires imported kiwifruit to meet the same or comparable quality requirements applied to domestic product under the California marketing order, suspending those standards means imported kiwifruit will also be permitted into U.S. commerce without meeting the current federal import requirements.

USDA plans to remove those mandatory import requirements from the Code of Federal Regulations as part of the termination process.

The move follows a referendum conducted May 18 through June 8.

USDA reported that 56% of California kiwifruit growers who voted, representing 83% of the production volume included in the referendum, favored terminating the marketing order.

For the program to continue, it needed support from either a majority of growers voting or growers representing a majority of the volume represented in the referendum.

The California Kiwifruit Marketing Order has been in effect since 1984. It authorizes the industry to establish quality regulations along with research and promotion programs and rules governing markings, packs and containers.

Quality requirements established under the order have included grade, size, maturity and other standards designed to maintain the quality of kiwifruit moving into commerce.

Federal marketing orders are industry-funded programs that allow growers and handlers to collectively establish certain marketing requirements and conduct programs that individual companies might not undertake independently.

USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service provides federal oversight.

The suspension does not immediately eliminate the marketing order itself. USDA said it will issue a proposed rule to formally terminate the program, followed by a 60-day public comment period.

In the meantime, the Dec. 31 suspension means the practical requirements imposed on handlers will stop during the current crop year.

The decision is notable for both domestic growers and importers because the federal standards have applied on both sides of the market.

For California producers, the vote shows that a majority of the participating volume no longer saw enough value in maintaining the mandatory program.

For buyers, retailers and importers, the change means kiwifruit will soon move through U.S. commerce without the federal quality and packaging requirements previously tied to the California order.