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08/07/12Farm Bill V● Moving a Farm Bill through Congress this year has proved difficult. Why? Because it represents huge expenditures of taxpayer dollars (mostly on social feeding programs, such as food stamps); contains controversial environmental policy directives; incites arguments between large commodity groups based on self-interest and geography; represents “big government” to those who seek to control federal spending and influence; and is being considered in a presidential election year with the two major political parties fighting each other red in tooth and claw. My guess is that passage of a new Farm Bill has its best chance in a lame duck session. ● In late July, President Obama traveled to Seattle for a fundraiser that brought together some 200 people at... Posted at 10:19 AM | Permalink | Comments: 1 |
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07/26/12Insane Coils of Red Tape● As a result of this year’s redistricting, commercial tree fruit growers will have reason to have constituent contact with four out of the ten representatives to be sent from Washington state to the nation’s capital for next year’s 113th Congress. Each of the four districts are now held by Republicans: Jamie Herrera Beulter/3rd District; Richard (Doc) Hastings/4th District; Cathy McMorris Rodgers/5th District; and Dave Reichert/8th District. In my opinion all four of these incumbents will be reelected on November 6. The bulk of apple, pear, cherry, and stone fruits--over 200,000 acres—are in the 4th congressional district, with the 8th having about 22,000 acres. The other two districts have between 3,000 and 4,500 acres each. ● As of today 647... |
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07/17/12PMA/United● The merger talks between the Produce Market Association and the United Fresh Produce Association have failed. It appears that the break point was over who would lead a combined trade association: PMA’s board is said to have wanted its own Brian Silbermann to be the designated CEO, while United’s board favored a more open selection process. In my opinion, this is a weak reason to blow up a good idea that would have led to the elimination of one redundant national convention, and the better coordination and rationalization of produce industry efforts on a range of policy issues from food safety, to crisis management, to nutrition, to government relations, and beyond. All this positive potential was wiped out over one executive position. Meanwhile, I note that this week,... |
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07/13/12Farm Bill IV● The House Committee on Agriculture approved by a bipartisan vote of 35-11 its version of the Farm Bill late Wednesday night. H.R. 6083 now is poised to go before the full body for debate and a vote on passage. When will this happen? As soon as Speaker Boehner decides to schedule the floor time. ● Most of the issues of special interest to the nation’s fruit and vegetable sector—such as research and export promotion (MAP)—were handled satisfactorily in the Agriculture Committee’s final work. One disputed issue was the opening of USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program to “all forms.” The United Fresh Produce Association and others are upset that this will take the focus off “fresh” for this school snack... |
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07/02/12The Supremes● The Farm Bill is set to be marked-up by the House Agriculture Committee on July 13. Controversy has been sparked by both regional crop differences on policy, and the pressing need to control the federal budget. It would surprise no one if a new Farm Bill was not enacted before November 6. Floor time for actual debate and voting is scarce between now and when the elected officials break for home and the general election. ● Mexico elected a new president on Sunday: Enrique Peña Nieto of that country’s oppositional party, the PRI. Our tree fruit industry’s most important export market will be led by a person who apparently is in favor of international trade. We hope. ● The U.S. Supreme Court announced two big decisions on immigration and health... |
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06/25/12Farm Bill III● The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S. 3240, passed last Thursday by a vote of 64 to 35. Attention now pivots to the House of Representatives, where committee action on the Farm Bill will likely start the week of July 9. While great pressure for passage is being exerted by advocates of a new Farm Bill, both the demands of other important pending legislation and the scarcity of time for floor debate make getting to enactment before this fall’s general election a significant challenge. For example, the House has only 29 days scheduled between July I and November 6 for its legislative business. ● The Market Access Program (MAP) survived a spirited challenge by Senator Coburn (R/Oklahoma): his amendment to dramatically reduce MAP was defeated by a roll... |
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06/19/12Mexico● President Obama acted last Friday to help many young people—those without the correct residency papers, but otherwise clean records—to stay in our country and be employed. This bypass of Congress causes further uncertainty over how a bipartisan comprehensive immigration reform package might be eventually crafted. And while it is certain to be popular with most Hispanics, a key constituency in this fall’s general election, the President’s decision is unlikely to lead to many additional legal agricultural workers at harvest time. ● On Tuesday, Mexico was invited to join the negotiations for a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. TPP is one of the few significant international trade expanding negotiations now active... Posted at 02:12 PM | Permalink | Comments: 2 |
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06/13/12Farm Bill II● The U.S. Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S. 3240, now has over 220 floor amendments floating about it. Some of these are straight-forward policy modifications; others would kill or cripple specified USDA programs (such as the sugar program and the Market Access Program); a few seek to reign in EPA and other regulatory arms of government; some have no relation at all to farming. Working through all these in the limited floor time available for debate will be difficult. With all the necessary steps yet to be taken, including passage by the House of Representatives, it seems less than likely that a new Farm Bill will emerge prior to the end of this fiscal year, September 30. ● The only tight U.S. Senate race in this region of our country is Montana’s:... |
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06/07/12Farm Bill● The Senate’s version of the Farm Bill, S.3240, today cleared its first procedural hurdle by easily surviving a cloture vote (90-8). Debate will now take place over the next few weeks on floor amendments to this measure, which includes federal funding for such things as nutrition, agricultural research, conservation, export marketing, and crop insurance. Its counterpart bill in the House of Representatives has yet to reach full bloom. ● With crop insurance being now viewed as a partial alternative to direct payments for the traditional commodity program crops, a good deal of attention will be devoted to the large costs associated with subsidizing the premiums paid by growers. While tree fruit has traditionally not been too active in the politics of crop insurance, it... |
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06/01/12A Slow Boat to ChinaThe annual meeting of the Western Governors’ Association will be held at the Cascade Mountain Range resort of Suncadia, Washington, on June 9-12. Governor Christine Gregoire will host the event, which is scheduled to include on its program a roundtable discussion on agricultural trade exports featuring Ambassador Isi Siddiqui of the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Michael Scuse, USDA’s Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services. Taking advantage of this opportunity, a side trip to a cherry packing plant in the Yakima Valley is being planned by our industry for the Under Secretary. USDA/AMS released its latest Pesticide Data Program Annual Summary on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. Better efforts were made this... |
