Super Committee Fails, Farm Bill Work Continues

While most media attention has focused on the work of the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction — aka the “Super Committee” — Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and House Agriculture Committee Chair Frank Lucas (R-OK) have been hard at work negotiating a deal to cut $23 billion in farm programs and in the process write a new Farm Bill that would go through 2017.

The agriculture leaders were set to deliver their package to the Super Committee when negotiations broke down just before Thanksgiving. USApple and other members of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA) met with the Committees and other key offices during the summer and fall, emphasizing our priority issues and the need to maintain the programs gained in the 2008 Farm Bill. While the Stabenow/Lucas plan has never been officially released, it is our understanding that critical programs including the Market Access Program, Specialty Crop Research Initiative, and Specialty Crop Block Grants, were preserved.

With the failure of the super committee, the House and Senate agriculture committees will have to write a farm bill in “regular order,” with hearings expected to begin in early 2012. USApple commends the work of Chairwoman Stabenow and Chairman Lucas in developing their consensus plan and we are hopeful that it will lay the foundation for discussion on future farm bill language.

A strong apple — and specialty crop — industry is vital to the economic health of rural economies across the nation, and the programs included in the Farm Bill help make that possible. USApple has never advocated for subsides, but instead for programs that promote competitiveness and long-term sustainability for our industry. Funds from the Specialty Crop Research Initiative are being used to develop new technologies and fight the brown marmorated stink bug while block grant money has been used for hundreds of successful promotion and food safety initiatives. USApple and our coalition SCFBA partners will be dedicated and urge Congress to adopt a Farm Bill that continues to build on the successes of the 2008 Farm Bill.