McCain Foods as of today had not agreed to return to the bargaining table with Wisconsin/Minnesota growers.
After months of talks, growers of the Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association Inc. agreed to sign over their authority to negotiate a processing contract to the Association.
Randy Duckworth, executive director of the WPVGA, said he was sending a letter to McCain today and copying the growers organization.
The letter essentially puts them on the spot for being unresponsive for failing to return to the bargaining table.
The growers will meet again tomorrow to discuss the contracts. For right now, things are in a holding pattern, just two weeks before growers are scheduled to start planting the 2002 crop.
With over $6 billion in annual sales, McCain Foods is the largest processor of french fries in the world. The Plover, WI, factory processes eight million cwt per year, representing over one-fourth of Wisconsin’s annual production.