CFAP Aid for Apples Pt 2
With today’s Fruit Grower Report, I’m Bob Larson. The Coronavirus Food Assistance Program has hung many specialty crop growers out to dry, including Washington apple growers.US Apple Association President Jim Bair says that’s because of the way the USDA set up the system for who qualifies and who doesn’t based on three categories …
BAIR … “So, there’s bucket two, which is did your commodity spoil? Well, we keep apples in cold storage, you know, they don’t spoil.”
And then, Bair says it comes down to the timing of it all …
BAIR … “Bucket three was, were you prevented from harvesting your crop? Well, good grief, any first grader in Seattle that goes out to the countryside in the fall with their family to pick apples can tell you that apple season is in the fall. We don’t harvest apples between January and April. So, bucket three was really of, not of any help to us.”
Last but not least, Bair says was off the mark as well …
BAIR … “And, on bucket one they said, well we did an analysis and your prices didn’t decline by the minimum amount of which we determined to be 5%. You have to have your prices decline by 5% or more. We said that doesn’t make any sense. Every grower in America could tell you that that’s wrong.”
So bottom line, Bair says the data USDA used was flawed …
BAIR … “You know, by a factor of, I don’t know, a thousand, multiple thousands, they were not even close.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on this call for aid for apple growers and other specialty crops.