By Clint Thompson
It is better for fruit and vegetable organizations to implement a “one voice” mentality in advocating for specialty crop producers to legislative leaders.
One of the by-products of the recent Southeast Regional Fruit and Vegetable Conference is that it allowed members from multiple organizations, like the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association, to come together and formulate a plan that will better appeal to legislators. The conference is an ideal setting since it attracts growers specialty crop leaders from Georgia, Florida, Alabama and the Carolinas.
Chris Butts, executive vice president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association (GFVGA), spoke about the ‘one voice’ approach at this year’s annual fruit and vegetable conference in Savannah, Georgia
“We do all share those issues (like the Adverse Effect Wage Rate and seasonal imports). It’s important that we come together and compare notes. We don’t need Georgia to be off on its own working on initiatives while our colleagues in other states are off spinning their wheels doing the same initiatives. We need to coordinate that,” Butts said. “It’s a chance to come together and compare notes. It helps us set the agenda for the whole year.
“When you’re talking to policy makers or regulators, I don’t care if it’s in your hometown or Washington D.C., if you have a unified message, it’s easy for those lawmakers to act and support you. But if we come in preaching one thing and another ag group comes in with another message, it’s confusing to the lawmakers. If we can help facilitate groups getting on the same page and working in unison, that’s a win.”