Maureen's moment

Maureen Torrey Marshall, chair of the United Fresh Produce Association, presented testimony before the Senate Agriculture Committee yesterday. here are The link to her full remarks is here.

Some excerpts:

As the policy discussion for the 2007 Farm Bill takes shape, we look forward to working with you to develop new programs and enhance existing programs that will improve the competitiveness of the specialty crop industry. Over the past two years, the coalition has been working with members of Congress to develop specific legislative language consistent with our priorities. The culmination of that work came last week, when Senators Debbie Stabenow and Larry Craig, along with 17 co-sponsors, introduced the Specialty Crops Competition Act of 2007, S. 1160. We believe this legislation is a comprehensive farm bill package providing the necessary framework to enhance the competitiveness of the specialty crop industry. We expect this legislation to begin a constructive discussion of specialty crop farm policy and allow our industry to play a significant role in the farm bill debate.

Later....

Many of the provisions of S.1160 address these concerns. I would like to highlight today nine (9) key areas of S.1160, which we believe Congress should incorporate into the 2007 Farm Bill because they will enhance the foundation of policy tools available to this important segment of U.S. agriculture.
1. Prohibition of Planting Fruits and Vegetables on Contract Acres As referenced in S. 1160, the Alliance strongly supports maintaining or strengthening the current U.S. planting policy, which restricts producers from growing fruits and vegetables on acres receiving program payments.
2. Nutrition Policy . The Dietary Guidelines for Americans call for the consumption of 5 to 13 servings a day of fruits and vegetables as a cornerstone of good health. Yet, on any given day 45 percent of children eat no fruit at all, and 20 percent eat less than one serving of vegetables.
3. State Block Grants The Alliance also supports continued expansion of the State Block Grant Program for Specialty Crops that was authorized in the 2004 Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act
4. Research Policy Federal investment in agricultural research dedicated to improving the competitiveness of the U.S. specialty crop industry has been shrinking in real terms and is not adequate to meet the needs of the industry. s.
5. Conservation Policy Because of these factors, the industry supports expanding cost share and incentive programs such and the Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Security Program that encourages producers to invest in natural resource protection measures they might not have been able to afford without such assistance.
6. International Trade Policy . Farm bill programs that have worked well increasing access to foreign markets for domestically produced fruits and vegetables are the Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops and the Market Access Program. These programs should be continued and expanded in the next Farm Bill.
7. Disaster Assistance Policy The current $80,000 payment limit on disaster payments is not equitable for specialty crop producers.The Alliance believes that cost of production and crop value should be used to index disaster assistance payments to allow specialty crop producers to receive more equitable disaster payments.
8. Invasive Pests and Disease The Alliance supports enhancing the structure and resources of APHIS to better identify and prioritize foreign pest threats, provide timely adequate compensation to producers impacted by emergency eradication programs, and create an export division to more quickly process export petitions from U.S. specialty crop growers.
9. Labor Needs As Congress continues to debate immigration reform the produce industry urges Congress to support comprehensive immigration reform which includes a strong temporary worker program that will match a willing foreign employee with a willing employer when no U.S. workers are available.

TK: The first point Maureen brings up is the planting prohibition on farm program acres. How long the industry can hang on to this bargaining chip - and how much it will ultimately be worth - is one of the key questions of the 2007 farm bill debate.