Western Growers release

Here is the Western Growers news release about the farm bill:


WESTERN GROWERS APPLAUDS THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FOR PASSING ITS VERSION OF THE 2007 FARM BILL

IRVINE, CA (July 27, 2007) – Western Growers applauds the U.S. House of Representatives for passing its version of the 2007 Farm Bill today. Western Growers, with other specialty crop allies, has worked tirelessly for more than two years to ensure the specialty crop industry’s priorities are included in the Farm Bill, and today’s passage by the House is a major step toward achieving that goal.
“We applaud the U.S. House of Representatives’ passage of the Farm Bill. For the first time, the Farm Bill recognizes the priorities of an industry that accounts for more than half of all crop value in the country,” said Western Growers President and CEO Tom Nassif. “Our Representatives in Congress have shown tremendous leadership by investing in a 21st Century Farm Bill, which addresses the needs of all of agriculture.”
The House version of the Farm Bill, which would provide more than $1.7 billion in mandatory funding for key specialty crop programs over the next five years, would expand the USDA Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program to all 50 states, enhance critical trade assistance and market promotion tools that will grow international markets for specialty crops, expand detection and mitigation efforts to combat invasive pests and diseases; which costs the economy millions of dollars per year; provide a greater investment in research and development and expand the “State Specialty Crop Competitiveness” projects in all 50 states to enhance the competitiveness of fruits, vegetables and nuts.
“This is truly an historic moment for our country and industry,” Nassif said. “We especially want to recognize and commend Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA), who has worked diligently on our industry’s behalf to secure our representation in the Farm Bill for more than two years. We also strongly applaud House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), House Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-MN) and ranking Republican Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Representatives Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Jim Costa (D-CA), Sam Farr (D-CA), Devin Nunes (R-CA), George Radanovich (R-CA) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) for their leadership and courage in shaping our federal farm policy based on competition and geared toward the 21st Century marketplace.
“We recognize, however, that there is still a lot of work to be done on this issue,” Nassif said. “It’s now time for the Senate to build on the efforts of House. The current Farm Bill is set to expire this year and the status quo is not acceptable.”
Western Growers; which is a co-chair of the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a national coalition of 120 specialty crop organizations who have banded together to support priorities that provide an avenue for more competition into federal farm policy with a focus on producing a safer, healthier and more nutritious food supply; is an agricultural trade association whose nearly 3,000 members grow, pack and ship ninety percent of the fresh fruits, nuts and vegetables grown in California and seventy five percent of those commodities in Arizona. This totals about half of the nation’s fresh produce.