What the farm bill does for f/v producers

The House Agriculture Committee has released a document geared to f/v producers. It can be found at the Fresh Produce Industry Discussion Group and here published on Google.

It aims to be a convincing sell job on the House Ag Committee's work, though it doesn't mention that the fruit and vegetable snack program must rely on reserve funds or "funny money" for national expansion.

I talked to a Farm Bureau lobbyist today who said that that the fruit and vegetable industry should be pleased that Collin Peterson's version of the farm bill keeps the planting prohibition in place. "I'm surprised how little talk there is about removing the planting prohibition, and there is not a lot of rumbling about doing that," the lobbyist said. The source added that the fact that specialty crop block grants were made mandatory was a "huge win" for fruit and vegetable growers.

TK: Fruit and vegetable growers should be happy, conventional wisdom says. I think the industry can't afford to accept current terms. Mandatory funding for expansion of the fruit and vegetable snack program has to be a part of this farm bill.