by Sabrina Halvorson
The International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) wants to see more funding for specialty crops in the farm bill. In an interview, IFPA Vice President of U.S. Government Relations, Rebeckah Adcock pointed out the differences in funding for things like fresh produce versus row crops.
“All parts of agriculture are important. But since USDA says fruits and vegetables and all those products that we are most familiar with seeing on our plate should be half our plate, we think that the federal government should up investment that they make in the specialty crop industry,” she said.
Rebeckah Adcock
She said specialty crops, which are addressed in Title X of the farm bill, bring in about 44 percent of the farm income while only getting about 3.5 percent of funding.
“On direct spending, yes. So, if you compare, for example, Title I with Title X, which is the comparison between traditional row crops and specialty crops, the spending there is very disproportionate. So, you get into the way of up to 50 percent on Title I down below 4 percent on Title X,” she said.
In addition, Adcock said programs for specialty crops like research initiatives and block grants are relatively young and many have not seen any recent increases.
“Specialty crop-targeted programs like specialty crop research initiatives, specialty crop block grants that go to states, some of the work that is done in the trade space, those things have really only been around since 2008. So, we are ramping up,” she said. “But we are reaching a level of maturity, even for the history of the farm bill, that we believe that it’s time (for an increase). We’ve more than made the case and more than seen a tremendous amount of benefit and support.”
She said the IFPA believes many specialty crop programs are over-prescribed and underfunded.
“Most of them have not seen a plus up or additional funds in the last at least one to two cycles of Farm Bill reauthorization that every five years has to be redone and rebooted. And we think there’s more than enough evidence, in order enough justification to bring those programs better into fiscal alignment.”
She encouraged specialty crop producers to talk to their elected officials about the need for additional specialty crop funding in the farm bill.
You can hear Sabrina’s full interview with Rebeckah Adcock here.
Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.