Walnut Marketing Board

The California Walnut Board or Walnut Marketing Board, founded in 1933, supports the California walnut industry.{{cite book|title=Walnut production manual|author=David E. Ramos|year=1997|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yKawaOt88A0C&q=Walnut+Marketing+Board&pg=PA15|publisher=ANR Publications|page=15|isbn=978-1-879906-27-3}} The organization was originally known as the Walnut Control Board, changing its name to the Walnut Marketing Board in 1962 and to the California Walnut Board in 2008.{{cite web|title=Walnuts Grown in California; Order Amending Marketing Order and Agreement No. 984|date=3 March 2008 |url=http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2008/03/03/E8-4016/walnuts-grown-in-california-order-amending-marketing-order-and-agreement-no-984|publisher=Federal Register|accessdate=2010-10-03}} Its formation was authorized by the Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA).

Under the AAA, the Walnut Control Board was authorized to assess crops and declare a percentage as surplus. Its 1934 assessment designating 30% of the crop as surplus met with local resistance.{{cite web|title=Walnut Growers Fight Code Rule|publisher=Eugene Register-Guard|date=1934-10-26|accessdate=2010-10-02|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=p90zAAAAIBAJ&pg=3641,1631747&dq=walnut-control-board+surplus&hl=en

}} In 2009, responding to a request from the Board, the United States Department of Agriculture purchased $30 million of the crop, which was distributed to nutrition assistance programs.{{cite web|title=Government buying surplus walnuts|url=https://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Government-buying-surplus-walnuts-3166586.php|publisher=San Francisco Chronicle|date=2009-04-01|access-date=2010-10-04}}

The AAA's application to walnuts was affirmed by Federal Marketing Order 984 in 1948. The USDA and the organization date its foundation to that year.{{cite web|title=Commodity Regulated: Walnuts grown in California|url=http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateN&page=FVMarketingOrderIndexWalnuts

|publisher=USDA|accessdate=2010-10-02|date=}}{{cite web|url=http://www.walnuts.org/walnuts/index.cfm/industry-resources/walnut-board-commission/|title=Walnut Board & Commission|publisher=California Walnut Board|accessdate=2010-10-02}} Federal regulations govern its operations. As of 2008, the Board consisted of five grower representatives, four handler representatives, and one member of the public, all serving two-year terms.

The Board continues to implement the Marketing Order.{{cite book|title=The Brain Power Cookbook: More Than 200 Recipes to Energize Your Thinking|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uqglRfa8k0YC&q=Walnut+Marketing+Board&pg=PA273|author=Frank Lawlis, Maggie Greenwood-Robinson|year=2009|page=273|isbn=978-0-452-29013-6|publisher=Penguin Group}} Its activities now include the promotion of walnuts in the US diet, research funding, product grading, and compilation of crop statistics. The USDA oversees its operations.{{cite web|title=PERSIAN WALNUT BREEDING IN CALIFORNIA|url=http://nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/gtr/gtr_nc243/gtr_nc243_025.pdf|publisher=USDA|accessdate=2010-10-01}}

An analysis of its domestic marketing program, published in 2002, concluded that its cost-benefit ratio was favorable.{{cite web|title=The Domestic Impacts of the Walnut Marketing Board's Marketing Programs|url=http://commodity.aem.cornell.edu/nicpre/newslet/vol8no1/index.htm|publisher=The National Institute for Commodity Promotion Research and Evaluation via Cornell University|accessdate=2010-10-01}}