Specialty Crop Farm Bill Recommendations Pt 1
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, a national coalition of more than 200 specialty crop organizations, has released its
recommendation for the 2023 Farm Bill.
One of the Alliance Co-Chairs is National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles who says the group was put together in order to deliver a unified message from the specialty crop industry …
QUARLES … “If you roll the clock back 20-years, Bob, specialty crops, fruit and vegetables, even though it’s almost half of farm gate value in the United States, it was basically unrepresented, unrecognized by the farm bill.”
The changing markets, Quarles says made it necessary …
QUARLES … “I remember what it was like before a Farm Bill Alliance and I think the reality was that the competitive market, the global competitive marketplace was just changing out from under us.”
The recommendations, Quarles says are a necessary part of the process …
QUARLES … “These recommendations today reflect the reality that we’re in a farm bill year. We’ve gone through, actually, a year-long process to come up with these recommendations. Now, Congress is going to start writing what we hope is a 2023 Farm Bill in earnest and we want to be part of those conversations, so we had to have our recommendations before them.”
Tune in tomorrow for more on the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance recommendations.
