By Clint Thompson
The frustrating aspect of the Senate Ag Committee’s failure to advance the farm bill was it mostly had nothing to do with agriculture. The political discourse over Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was reportedly the main point of contingent that kept both republicans democrats from agreeing to this key piece of legislation.
What’s important now for specialty crop producers is that they remain steadfast in controlling what they can control and leave the political points to the legislative leaders. That’s according to Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council and co-chair of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA).
“It’s one of the ongoing challenges that we deal with a number of different things. As we’re sitting down with our coalition partners and strategizing on how we’re going to approach something like a farm bill, when you’re facing this type of circumstance, my message to folks is control what you can control,” Quarles said. “The only thing that you can positively affect are the things right in front of you. That’s making sure that we’re pushing policies that are good ones that make sense from a fiscal standpoint, grower standpoint and making sure that we’re touching all of the various offices that need to hear how beneficial those are. The larger issues they’re going to take care of themselves one way or the other, and we just need to execute.
“More often than not, having that kind of focus turns out well for us. It didn’t happen today, but we’ll get there.”
The SCFBA is co-chaired by Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association; Mike Joyner, President of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association; Dave Puglia, President and CEO of Western Growers; and Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council.