USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack and Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan met with a group of agricultural stakeholders, including United Fresh President Tom Stenzel and Senior Vice President of Public Policy Robert Guenther Wednesday to discuss the "Know Your Farmer: Know Your Food" program.

"Secretary Vilsack was adamant that this program is not designed to favor small farms over large, organic versus conventional, nor local versus more national producers," said Stenzel.  "The Secretary said his goal was to support rural communities and to help connect consumers today to where and how food is grown, especially with less than 1 percent of the population today working in agriculture. These are goals we can share, so long as they truly guide the program and support all fruit and vegetable growers equally."