Not happy yet

There is no clear picture yet what is included for specialty crops in the House Agriculture Committee's chairman's mark of the 2007 farm bill, which will be released Friday. On Friday past, House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson said that his mark will include an unprecedented $685 million over five years as baseline funding for fruit and vegetable priorities. He didn't say how that money would be divided and what programs he included in the figure.
Right now there is skepticism about the chairman's mark by at least one industry lobbyist I spoke with today. Whatever it includes, he said the $685 million over five years falls too far short of what the industry is looking for, considering the EAT Healthy America Act asks for $1.6 billion PER YEAR for industry priorities.

What is the industry's bottom line number? At what point will the industry be satisfied? I don't think the industry has a firm idea yet, but apparently $685 million over five years is not enough.