The Senate wing of the U.S. Capitol. The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance has hailed the Senate Ag Committee’s release of legislative text for the federal budget reconciliation package. (Courtesy Architect of the U.S. Capitol)

The Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance expressed support for the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee’s release of legislative text for the federal budget reconciliation package.

The alliance is grateful to the committee for “advancing these vital investments in specialty crops,” according to a news release.

“Any Congressional investment in American agriculture must include specialty crops,” according to the alliance. “America’s specialty crop growers confront a host of unprecedented challenges. Rising input costs, limited access to labor, unfair trade practices, disruptions to foreign markets, and natural disasters ranging from flood to drought all impede the competitiveness of these family farms. Nothing short of the survival of our domestic industry is at stake.”

The investments, which the House of Representatives passed, “are a key piece of the puzzle to help America’s specialty crop growers succeed,” according to the release. “There is still work to be done, though.”

Senate rules prohibit inclusion of some policy initiatives the alliance proposed, such as investments in mechanization and automation as well as crop insurance reforms.

“We stand ready to work with Congress to enact a comprehensive, bipartisan farm bill that invests in America’s specialty crop growers,” according to the release. The 2018 Farm Bill is on its second one-year extension.

The alliance is co-chaired by International Fresh Produce Association CEO Cathy Burns, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association president Mike Joyner, Western Growers president and CEO Dave Puglia and National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles.

Potato Council president Ted Tschirky, a grower from Washington state, also praised the Senate committee’s action.

“The provisions supporting specialty crop growers are not merely beneficial — they are essential for the survival and international competitiveness of our family farms and the entire U.S. potato industry,” he said in a council news release.

The Senate committee’s draft demonstrates “a clear commitment to improving the challenging economic landscape faced by our nation’s potato farmers,” Tschirky said.

America’s family potato farms “have endured significant competitive challenges since the 2018 Farm Bill was passed, and those growers have been waiting for modernized tools since that bill originally expired,” Quarles said. Provisions in the draft “address that need, and they must be urgently passed by Congress, signed by the president and enacted into law through any viable legislative vehicle.”

Selected specialty crop enhancements funded in Senate Agriculture draft, according to the Potato Council, include the Specialty Crop Research Initiative, $175 million per year, up from $80 million; the Specialty Crop Block Grant program, $100 million a year, up from $85 million; the Market Access Program, $200 million, up 100%; pest and disease programs under the Plant Protection Act, $90 million a year, up from $75 million, and elimination of an adjusted gross income limitation if 75% or more of income is derived from farming.

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Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry budget reconciliation text