Specialty Crop Leaders Fear Funding Cuts

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There is apprehension among fruit and vegetable industry leaders that the tremendous gains made in the 2008 Farm Bill could be lost in a matter of weeks as the massive budget cuts mandated by the Budget Control Act are considered by Congress’ Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, the so-called “Super Committee.”

The president of the California Grape and Tree Fruit League, Barry J. Bedwell, said he and his staff have been in contact with their congressional representatives to share their trepidation. “We are very concerned that the gains made in the last Farm Bill for investments in specialty crops could be materially reduced or lost due to the extreme austerity attitude and rush by the Super Committee,” said Bedwell, adding that he will soon be flying to Washington, DC to reiterate those concerns.

Many feel there is a sense that because the specialty crops funding is such a relatively recent addition to the Farm Bill – traditionally the province of the Midwest where the so-called major crops like corn and soybeans are grown – it would be easy for the agricultural committees to recommend it be whacked. The 2008 Farm Bill was the first to contain a separate title for issues related to specialty crops, and included almost $3 billion in funding to areas that are important to fruit and vegetable growers: nutrition, farmers’ markets, trade, and plant pest and disease management.

Rumors have swirled recently, especially in California, which was understandably never a big Farm Bill player in the past, that the leaders of the agricultural committees are making something of an end run. The California Department of Food and Agriculture posted a blog entry (http://plantingseedsblog.cdfa.ca.gov/wordpress/?p=689) Monday in which they noted the San Francisco Chronicle had stated “lawmakers could act on the 2012 Farm Bill as early as this week with no input from California – the largest agricultural state in the nation.”

The story went on to state: “Leaders of the House and Senate Agriculture committees are proposing $23 billion in cuts – the 2008 Farm Bill’s five-year budget exceeded $300 billion – and could take their proposed legislation directly to the new congressional “Super Committee” to be passed without votes in their own committees or in Congress.”

Ag’s Advocate

While that is true, some Beltway insiders believe that the prospects for specialty crops – and by extension, California, which produces just over half the nation’s fruit and vegetables – aren’t quite so dim. Everyone involved in lobbying for specialty crops, or ag in general, recognizes that there will be hits. There’s no way to make cuts of that magnitude without someone feeling the pain, but specialty crops may not take the huge hit that was originally feared. “That’s been our concern, no question,” said one lobbyist who asked not to be named. “But now that’s not the feeling I’m getting.”

The four agriculture committee chiefs have been listening to the concerns of fruit and vegetable grower advocates, says the director of federal government affairs for Western Growers, Ken Barbic. The four are two from the House Agriculture Committee, Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-OK), who is chairman, and Rep. Collin C. Peterson (D-MN), ranking member; and the Senate Committee, Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), chairwoman, and Pat Roberts (R-KS), ranking member. While all have been receptive, Barbic emphasized, Stabenow is an obvious advocate for specialty crops.

She co-authored the original fruit and vegetable snack program in the 2002 Farm Bill, made it permanent in the 2004 Child Nutrition reauthorization, and expanded it nationwide in the 2008 Farm Bill. Stabenow, who authored the Horticulture title of the 2008 Farm Bill, helped include such priority initiatives as the Specialty Crop Block Grant Program, the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, and the Market Access Program.

The four congressional ag leaders are expected to release a proposal as soon as this week. That proposal will go to the bipartisan Super Committee, which is composed of six Democrats and six Republicans. The Super Committee has been working behind closed doors for the past two months, leaving many to wonder what’s going on. Also, there’s the fact that it’s all new to all involved. “The process has turned into a de facto farm bill in a compressed time line,” says Barbic. “It is so different than anything I’ve seen before.”

The Super Committee will take the recommendations of the ag leaders, as well as those from all committee leaders, and then according to the Budget Control Act, has until Nov. 23 to pass a proposal with at least $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction for the full Congress to consider. Congress then has until Dec. 23 to enact the $1.5 trillion in deficit reduction. If they fail to meet the deadline, cuts totaling $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction would kick in, slashing the programs that make agriculture look like a drop in the bucket: defense spending and Medicare benefits.

For another update on the next Farm Bill, clickto read a column by National Potato Council president John Keeling that ran in the June 2011 issue of American Vegetable Grower.