By Frank Giles
This fall, specialty crop growers in parts of the Southeast have been rocked by hurricanes that destroyed crops and disrupted operations. Growers have had to learn to live with Mother Nature for as long as farming has been around. Sometimes the weather hurts and sometimes it helps. You must carry on despite her whims.
But another factor has disrupted business for specialty crop growers in the Southeast. It is a flood of imports of key crops that have crashed market prices in some instances. Growers argue this is something that should be controlled to protect our domestic food supply.
Some lawmakers agree. In late October, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) and Congressman Sanford Bishop (GA-02) joined agricultural leaders for a press conference on the Protecting Our Produce Act legislation.
The bicameral bill would establish a five-year pilot program to provide support for certain specialty crop producers — blueberry, squash, bell pepper, cucumber and asparagus — when a crop’s national average market price (effective price) falls below its five-year average price (reference price), if the difference is caused by unfairly priced imports.
The legislation was introduced this summer and was applauded by the specialty crop industry in the Southeast, which has taken the brunt of imports from Central and South America.
When the legislation was announced, Bill Brim, owner of Lewis Taylor Farms in Tifton, Georgia, noted: “Congressman Bishop and Senator Ossoff understand the challenges faced by Georgia farmers who are dealing with an unprecedented challenge from imported fruits and vegetables. We agree that the time is now to address the growing problem, and we thank them for bringing forward this legislation. We must level the playing field for our producers before we become dependent on others for our food. This pilot program can provide critical support for growers when imports surge during our marketing window and prices fall.”
During the press conference, Ossoff noted: “Our food security is a national security issue. But if we don’t level the playing field for our fruit and vegetable growers here who face so much unfair competition from South America, we risk losing fruit and vegetable production in Georgia and across the country. That’s why we’ve introduced the Protecting Our Produce Act, to level the playing field for farmers in Georgia and fruit and vegetable producers across the country who face this abusive and unfair import competition from South American agriculture.
“We are modeling this on the reference-price program, so that Georgia growers who are unable to profitably produce and sell fruits and vegetables because of a wave of unfair imports from South America can get support from the federal government in order to remain in business and continue to invest in growing their operations.”
I have heard several growers advocate for the idea of a reference-price program like that included in the Protecting Our Produce Act. It is not some form of aid that is doled out annually, but rather something that is triggered when growers are truly impacted negatively by imports.
It is hard to get any legislation passed these days in Washington, but let’s hope this act gets a hearing and fair consideration to protect our farmers and domestic food supply.