USDA's Bruce Knight highlights farm bill at CGTFL annual meeting
USDA's Bruce Knight highlights farm bill at CGTFL annual meeting
Bruce Knight, undersecretary for marketing and regulatory programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was the keynote speaker at the annual membership meeting luncheon of the California Grape & Tree Fruit League, held Monday, March 26, at Disney's Grand California Hotel in Anaheim, CA.
According to Barry Bedwell, president of the league, Mr. Knight's address at the luncheon was one of the highlights of the group's three-day, 71st annual meeting, which also included a workshop on food safety, a state legislative update, a board of directors meeting and a golf tournament.
Mr. Knight's address focused on two areas: "the administration's recommendations for the farm bill" and "the proposed return of agricultural inspections from the Department of Homeland Security ... back to the USDA," Mr. Bedwell said.
Regarding the farm bill, "What we heard was that the administration and Secretary [of Agriculture Mike] Johanns ... recognize the importance of specialty crops, and that is good news. We are very grateful for the proposals which total approximately $5 billion over 10 years for specialty crops," or about $500 million a year.
However, Mr. Bedwell told The Produce News that another Bush administration proposal for the farm bill could hurt specialty crops by potentially six times the benefits derived from the specialty crops allocation. That is a proposal to allow fruits and vegetables to be planted on commodity program crop flex acres.
Under current law, that practice is prohibited, and specialty crop growers are concerned that removing that restriction could result in overplanting and depressed markets. Mr. Bedwell said that he asked Mr. Knight specifically about that concern and suggested that "there needs to be a compromise, because we are going to be negatively impacted up to possibly $3 billion a year with the additional fruits and vegetables that could be planted by program crop participants."
Unfortunately, CDFA "didn't seem to be looking at it that way," although Mr. Knight indicated that some sort of compromise may be possible, Mr. Bedwell said.
The area of block grants for states, "which has also been very important to California," is also not included in the administration's farm bill proposal, he said. "But overall, we are pleased with the historic recognition" being given to specialty crops.
Mr. Knight also "made some comments" about a proposal to return agricultural inspection to the USDA. "There is pending legislation ... that would do that," Mr. Bedwell said. "We have taken a support position on that" because of concern "over a decrease in interceptions since the inspection function was moved over to DHS," he said.
"I was a little surprised that [Mr. Knight] wasn't more enthusiastic" about the possibility of agricultural inspection at the border coming back to USDA, Mr. Bedwell said.
According to Barry Bedwell, president of the league, Mr. Knight's address at the luncheon was one of the highlights of the group's three-day, 71st annual meeting, which also included a workshop on food safety, a state legislative update, a board of directors meeting and a golf tournament.
Mr. Knight's address focused on two areas: "the administration's recommendations for the farm bill" and "the proposed return of agricultural inspections from the Department of Homeland Security ... back to the USDA," Mr. Bedwell said.
Regarding the farm bill, "What we heard was that the administration and Secretary [of Agriculture Mike] Johanns ... recognize the importance of specialty crops, and that is good news. We are very grateful for the proposals which total approximately $5 billion over 10 years for specialty crops," or about $500 million a year.
However, Mr. Bedwell told The Produce News that another Bush administration proposal for the farm bill could hurt specialty crops by potentially six times the benefits derived from the specialty crops allocation. That is a proposal to allow fruits and vegetables to be planted on commodity program crop flex acres.
Under current law, that practice is prohibited, and specialty crop growers are concerned that removing that restriction could result in overplanting and depressed markets. Mr. Bedwell said that he asked Mr. Knight specifically about that concern and suggested that "there needs to be a compromise, because we are going to be negatively impacted up to possibly $3 billion a year with the additional fruits and vegetables that could be planted by program crop participants."
Unfortunately, CDFA "didn't seem to be looking at it that way," although Mr. Knight indicated that some sort of compromise may be possible, Mr. Bedwell said.
The area of block grants for states, "which has also been very important to California," is also not included in the administration's farm bill proposal, he said. "But overall, we are pleased with the historic recognition" being given to specialty crops.
Mr. Knight also "made some comments" about a proposal to return agricultural inspection to the USDA. "There is pending legislation ... that would do that," Mr. Bedwell said. "We have taken a support position on that" because of concern "over a decrease in interceptions since the inspection function was moved over to DHS," he said.
"I was a little surprised that [Mr. Knight] wasn't more enthusiastic" about the possibility of agricultural inspection at the border coming back to USDA, Mr. Bedwell said.
