Should fruit and vegetable production be subsidized?
Washington Ag Today May 19, 2010 Health experts want us to eat more fresh fruits and vegetables but for some people they are too expensive. So how can you make them more affordable? Kinsey: “Shift some of the farm subsidy dollars away from the major crops towards fruits and vegetables.” That’s Dr. Jean Kinsey of the University of Minnesota addressing one of those field hearings on the next farm bill being held by the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. Her idea was panned at that same hearing by Dr. Bruce Babcock of Iowa State University. He said if you subsidize the production of fruits and vegetables at the farm level; Babcock: “You would flood the market and destroy the market.” The 2008 Farm Bill did include for the first time a title for specialty crops but it provided funding for such things as research and marketing, not direct producer subsidies, which specialty crop producers said they didn’t want. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is sponsoring a regional pesticide disposal event June 29th at a site near Sedro-Woolley, east of Mount Vernon. The deadline to sign up for the free disposal event is May 27thallowing WSDA time to respond to any requested farm site assistance. This is a regional event and participants do not have to reside or have a business in Skagit County. Contact WSDA to sign up at 877-301-455, that’s toll free, or online at waste pesticides@agr.wa.gov I’m Bob Hoff and that’s Washington Ag Today on Northwest Aginfo Net.
