By Clint Thompson
The lack of movement towards a new farm bill has Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council and co-chair of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), frustrated and calling for much needed action to help specialty crop producers.
Even though the SCFBA applauded the recent U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Reconciliation draft release that advanced investments in specialty crops, its preference remains to “enact agriculture policy in the context of a comprehensive bipartisan farm bill.”
“It’s really an unfortunate development and certainly for specialty crops, the fruit and vegetable industry. No part of agriculture has experienced more change since the 2018 farm bill was written,” Quarles said.
“From labor crisis to COVID to all of these international issues that have sprung up, production issues, for specialty crops, it’s a different world today than it was when the last farm bill was written. Here today, we are nearing two years, we’re going to be entering our third year of having no replacement farm bill for that 2018 bill when we get into the fall time. It’s a real challenge for producers.”
Specialty Crops Inclusion
The SCFBA continues to preach specialty crops inclusion and emphasis in the next farm bill.
“Whenever Congress invests in American agriculture, it must include specialty crops,” the SCFBA included in a press release. “The investments proposed by Chairman Thompson today are a key piece of the puzzle, but even if they survive the entire budget reconciliation process and are enacted into law, there is still work to be done.
“We continue to urge Congress to advance a comprehensive, bipartisan farm bill that incorporates our recommendations to bolster the competitiveness of America’s specialty crop producers.”
The farm bill is a piece of legislation that is renewed every five years. President Trump signed the current farm bill into law on Dec. 20, 2018.