Stenzel speech at Outlook Forum

Tom Stenzel, president of the United Fresh Produce Association, presented this speech today at the USDA's Agricultural Outlook Forum. Titled "Responding to Market Forces to Build a Sustainable U.S. Fruit and Vegetable Industry,' Stenzel suggests the government can better help industry respond to market forces.

Some excerpts:

Let me share our thinking today about a new vision in agricultural policy. The fruit and vegetable industry does not want direct support for our growers; we don’t want price protection; I’m not even sure we want a safety net. The ability to fail in our business protects the opportunity of those who are driven to succeed. What we do want is investment that allows us to build a sustainable U.S. fruit and vegetable industry that can be successful in a free market economy, and find value for those who “get it right.”
Incidentally, I don’t know where the final Farm Bill numbers will come out for fruit and vegetable priorities. But I do know that an historic coalition of rural and urban legislators, Republicans and Democrats, supporters of traditional farm programs and those who oppose them, have all come together to support targeted, meaningful investment in the competitiveness of this sector. That alone is a breakthrough, if but a start. Our industry is engaged in agricultural policy today because we’re having to respond to a different set of market forces than we’ve seen before. Many of you know those market forces all too well. Our growers operate in the most highly regulated and costly environment of any of our major competitors. Finding an adequate and legal workforce for this most labor-intensive sector of agriculture has become next to impossible. The fight over land and water use between agriculture and development is growing, and is most severe in our most productive growing areas. And, while we support free and fair trade in fruits and vegetables, it seems that trade agreements have too often been one-sided deals with open access permitted to the U.S. market only to see continuing phytosanitary barriers erected to block our exports. Increasingly, those signals add up to one message to produce growers in the United States – move your production outside of the country, or send your kids to law school.

TK: After talking about the internal industry process of creating policy for the 2007 farm bill - notably specialty crop block grants and the fruit and vegetable program - Stenzel concluded with a plea that the White and House and Congress to respond to the market signals of dietary health and food safety. Stenzel also delivers a well-aimed zinger to Lou Dobbs: From the speech:

Soon, we will move beyond this Farm Bill, and face other challenges in sustaining our fruit and vegetable and specialty crop industry. The market challenges we face won’t go away, and many are likely to become even greater. Worldwide attention on food safety is placing significant demands on growers, and we will rise to that challenge better than anyone. But we do need more government research into ways to minimize the potential of field contamination, reduction in harmful E Coli in the natural environmental, quicker testing methods and traceability systems for recall situations, and more effective kill steps for pathogens in processing. Without a breakthrough on immigration reform, our labor shortage won’t go away either. There’s probably no greater threat to our industry today than the shortage of workers and disregard for the future of specialty crop agriculture in America that is currently being shown by zealots on immigration. That too will be a market force we must respond to, with mechanization where we can, but more and more with offshore production. I just want you to remember that Lou Dobbs is the one exporting agricultural production and jobs that will never come back. And finally, back to nutrition and health. As great as the school snack program is, it is only a start on what we need to do change the way America eats. We can no longer afford an agricultural policy disconnected from public health policy. The fruit and vegetable industry can no longer be a step-child in the farm debate. With specialty crops already representing almost 50% of farm crop value, and fruits and vegetables representing 50% of all foods Americans should consume every day for better health, it is time for parity in the investments we make in agriculture. Every dollar spent to increase the competitiveness of U.S. fruit and vegetable producers serves all Americans who desperately need our products for their health. And, every dollar spent in helping our children choose a healthier diet based on fruits and vegetables will come back to us in lower health care costs. When we talk about responding to market signals, those are the new kinds of market signals that the Congress and Administrations to come will need to think about in the future..

TK: Talking to Stenzel after the speech, he said one of the things that came out in the panel discussion was the importance of energy policy in the context of farm policy. In the same way, Stenzel said he made the case that public health policy should become more integrated with farm policy. If the Administration set dietary goals in the same way it sets targets for ethanol production - with clear intent and purpose to make it happen - perhaps there would be more progress in the battle against obesity and for improved health through a better diet.