By Clint Thompson
The specialty crop sector is in need of further economic assistance, a lot more than the $1 billion allotted through the Assistance for Specialty Crop Farmers Program. That’s the message that the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA), including co-chair Kam Quarles, is trying to get across to legislative leaders.
“We’re very, very focused on getting economic relief to these family farms. Specialty crops are in a historic crisis, along with our program crop friends. I think from the beginning it was obvious that USDA was not going to have the resources in-house to deliver the necessary amount of aid to, not only specialty crops, but just agriculture overall,” Quarles said.
“It’s imperative with Congress to deliver more resources to the department. We very much want to see the USDA, White House and both the House and Senate come together on a package, not only the money but the mechanism to deliver that aid very efficiently.”
The SCFBA is calling for no less than $5 billion be provided for the specialty crop sector.
“That $1 billion that would go in part to specialty crops would be shared with sugar. Under the best of circumstances that $1 billion is maybe 20% of what specialty crops really need,” Quarles said. “If we don’t get to that $5 billion number overall, you’re certainly going to have family farms in the specialty crop industry go out of business, and we don’t want that to happen.”
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.