03/28/07 Pushing Specialty Crops

Pushing Specialty Crops. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Members of the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers spent time in Washington D.C. recently to raise attention to specialty crops. Those specialty crops most often take a back seat to program crops. Wine Grape Growers Executive Director, Vicky Scharleau says it's time to be heard. SCHARLEAU: There's so much going on in Congress right now and within agencies, not only the Farm Bill but other bills that impact specialty crops, therefore impact the wine and grape industry  therefore impact Washington state that the Wine Grape Growers as an organization we're starting a process of doing a serious look into how do we better position ourselves to be represented and have our voice heard at the federal level because we really are to the point where our size demands that we start raising our hand and standing up and having our voice heard. Scharleau says it's really important to get everyone to see the huge importance of specialty crops and have them treated equally. SCHARLEAU: Historically specialty crops of course of which grapes and wine is a huge part of has never really been an equitable partner in that Farm Bill and so we're trying to make sure our Congressional delegation understands how important specialty crops are nationally and how important specialty crops are in Washington State and how that really needs to be a priority in the Farm Bill. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.