By Dan Wheat
Specialty crops -- including fruits, nuts, vegetables and nursery commodities -- may have a "significantly improved posture" within the 2012 Farm Bill, two industry insiders say.
That's true even though the first congressional leadership consensus on the farm bill died in the super committee's failure to reach a deficit reduction agreement, says one of Washington's top tree fruit researchers.
The bill as presented to the super committee by Senate Agriculture Nutrition and Forestry Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., cut $23 billion from USDA programs but increased specialty crop funding by $1 billion over five years.
It was "more favorable than expected given the current budget climate," said Jim McFerson, manager of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission in Wenatchee.
McFerson credits hard work by many state specialty crop organizations, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance and the success of various programs since the last farm bill.
"The position of specialty crops at the congressional level has never been better. The importance of specialty crops to our national and regional economies and to the health and well-being of our citizens has never been more obvious," McFerson said.
Specialty crop programs with the most impact were retained in the Stabenow proposal. Research initiatives were given stable, baseline funding.
"These are tremendous victories for specialty crop producers across the country, but without a farm bill it's symbolic," McFerson said.
While Oregon Rep. Kurt Schrader, a member of the House Agriculture Committee, has said the Stabenow recommendation is a template for future discussions of the bill, U.S. Apple President Nancy Foster isn't so sure. Producers of major crops may have other ideas, she said.
The Stabenow proposal maintained Market Access Program funding at $200 million, a huge item for many West Coast ag exporters, Foster said. It increased specialty crop block grants to enhance competitiveness from $55 million to $70 million, she said. Beneficiaries include the Washington State Horticultural Association's GRASP program on food safety, she said.
Specialty Crop Research Initiative funding was decreased slightly from $230 million to $190 million for five years but was changed to mandatory or baseline funding, Foster said.
"Before it was authorized but not mandated, so this is a huge victory," she said. A four-state, four-year, $3.9 million sweet cherry research initiative, headed by Washington State University, is one of many projects funded.
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