Peterson teleconference 7/13

For the farm bill junkie, I offer up House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson's July 13 teleconference. The committee markup of the farm bill begins tomorrow, so we will hear more from Peterson and Co. the rest of the week. Fruit and vegetable program funding figures to be one of the central story lines to the full committee markup. I ask Peterson if f/v industry lobbyists have given the committee a "bottom line" number they would be satisfied with. Not really, he said, though he said with a touch of wonderment that some seem to want the $5 billion or so they asked for in the EAT Healthy America Act. Obviously (my words here) the industry won't get $5 billion or $8 billion, but Peterson and the committee must find dollars that will keep f/v in the fold.