Washington, D.C. – The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance (SCFBA) issued the following statement reacting to the U.S. House Agriculture Committee's release of draft text per the House Budget Committee’s reconciliation instructions:
"We are grateful to Chairman GT Thompson and his staff for advancing these vital investments in specialty crops that the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance has been proposing since 2023. Although our strong preference is to enact agriculture policy in the context of a comprehensive bipartisan farm bill, we appreciate the Chairman’s long-standing support of our industry and for seizing this opportunity to support America’s specialty crop growers.
"Our message today is simple: Whenever Congress invests in American agriculture, it must include specialty crops. America’s specialty crop growers produce half the farm gate value in the United States and continue to confront a host of unprecedented challenges, yet specialty crops historically receive a small fraction of the farm bill’s investments. Rising input costs, limited access to labor, unfair trade practices, disruptions to foreign markets and natural disasters ranging from flood to drought all impede their global competitiveness. Nothing short of the survival of our domestic industry is at stake.
"The investments proposed by Chairman Thompson today are a key piece of the puzzle, but even if they survive the entire budget reconciliation process and are enacted into law there is still work to be done. Senate rules prohibit many of the new and innovative policy initiatives we’ve been proposing from being included in this bill, such as investments in mechanization and automation and reforms to crop insurance that would provide many of our growers with an affordable and effective safety net for the very first time.
"We continue to urge Congress to advance a comprehensive, bipartisan farm bill that incorporates our recommendations to bolster the competitiveness of America’s specialty crop growers. They domestically produce the safe, nutritious foods that more Americans should be consuming, as well as cultivate the trees, flowers and plants that play a vital role in the nation’s health and wellbeing."
The SCFBA is co-chaired by Cathy Burns, CEO of the International Fresh Produce Association; Mike Joyner, President of the Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association; Dave Puglia, President and CEO of Western Growers; and Kam Quarles, CEO of the National Potato Council.