Tuesday at 2 pm

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance is expected to meet at 2 pm this afternoon in Washington and release a statement later today or perhaps tomorrow about the chairman's mark of the farm bill. Initially, the thought was that the industry would push equally on all their priorities, with any cutbacks from the lofty goals suffered on a pro-rated basis to everyone. Now, after Chairman's Peterson's mark has been released - with paid for funds for some priorities like specialty crop block grants but not for others, particularly the fruit and vegetable program. What will be the posture of the alliance after the release of the chairman's mark?

The money is not good enough yet to merit enthusiastic support from the industry, for one thing. I'm sure the industry would like at least a couple of billion over five years, rather than $675 million over five years.

One has to wonder why Chairman Peterson didn't allocate any paid-for funds for the fruit and vegetable program. Perhaps the thinking was that Sen. Tom Harkin will be an effective advocate for the fruit and vegetable snack program on the Senate side, and some kind of consensus can be reached in the conference committee.

'"We are disappointed that there doesn't seem to be a change in philosophy at the committee level to recognize the importance of fruits and vegetables in the the (farm bill) process," one industry lobbyist told me. "We're very united in pushing for the total package and work with the the Congress within the realm of the possible," the lobbyist said.

Meanwhile, here is how the $675 million in paid for fruit and vegetable priorities in the chairman's mark breaks down, according to a source on Capitol Hill (scored over five years)

$150 million for value added grants for rural development
$265 million for specialty crop block grants
$200 million for pest disease management
$35 million Farmers market nutrition program
$22 million: Organic certification cost sharing
$3 million: Organic data

TK: Full committee markup is scheduled to begin July 17, and that process has an uncertain duration at this point, a source close to the Agriculture Committee said.