FARM BILL 2007

May 31, 2007

The Honorable Tom Harkin
Chairman
The Honorable Saxby Chambliss
Ranking Member
Senate Agriculture Committee Senate Agriculture Committee
328-A Russell 328-A Russell
Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Chambliss:

As your Committee undertakes the very important task of reauthorizing the Farm Bill this year, I write to express certain priorities that are important to agricultural interests in my State of California. As the nation’s largest agricultural state, California farmers grow 350 different crops worth $32 billion per year. Yet despite this incredible diversity, California is still largely overlooked when it comes to the billions in federal support made available by the Farm Bill.

With this Farm Bill comes a new opportunity to develop an agricultural policy that reflects the new reality of American agriculture in the 21st century. The Farm Bill is no longer just about domestic support of program crops, but rather it reflects national priorities like alternative energy, environmental conservation, international trade and competitiveness, and nutrition.

What follows is an outline of priorities for the Farm Bill that I feel are important for California.

Specialty Crops

Specialty crops now make up 50 percent of the nation’s total farm value, yet incredibly, annual spending in support of specialty crops is a mere four percent of total annual agricultural spending. Unlike programs in the Farm Bill that provide direct price support to farmers, programs utilized by specialty crops growers in conservation, nutrition, and research benefit the entire nation. I joined a bipartisan coalition of Senators in cosponsoring S. 1160, a bill that provides comprehensive language designed to achieve more balance in the Farm Bill for the specialty crops industry.

One of the most important sections of S. 1160 provides mandatory funding for Specialty Crop Block Grants. This program is absolutely vital to ensure that specialty crop growers have the tools needed to remain competitive in global markets. Block grants provide the flexibility needed to allow state departments of agriculture to partner with growers and other local stakeholders in the development of innovative investments that address competitiveness issues for specialty crop growers.

Conservation

I recently introduced S. 1458, the Agricultural Air Quality Incentives Act, which makes Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) funding available to individual agricultural producers and air quality districts to combat ozone, particulate matter, and air quality degradation. I believe it is important to provide incentives through the EQIP program to farmers to begin taking steps to reduce the impact of their operations on the air in their communities.

I am also a cosponsor of S. 919, the Healthy Farms, Fuels, and Food Act. This bill includes a number of very important changes and additions to existing agricultural conservation programs. It reforms EQIP to reward the most cost-effective producers of environmental benefits and States that meet conservation targets, lifts the acreage cap on the Conservation Security Program, places a stronger emphasis on rewarding exceptional stewardship practices, provides additional technical assistance money for farmers using conservation programs, and increases enrollment in the Wetlands Reserve Program, among many other important goals.

Nutrition

With obesity and diabetes rates continuing to rise among school-age children, I believe Congress must do more to promote healthy lifestyle choices in our schools. The Farm Bill provides a great opportunity to encourage our children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

To that end, I introduced S. 100, the Healthy Students Act of 2007. Sections 2 and 3 of the Healthy Students Act requires the Secretary of Agriculture to issue guidance to states and school food authorities to increase the consumption of foods recommended in the most recent Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

My bill also creates a pilot program that provides grants to school districts or nonprofit organizations for use in promoting healthy food alternatives under the School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.

In addition, both S. 1160 and S. 919 contain provisions that help accomplish the goal of encouraging healthy choices not only in schools, but for all Americans. These provisions, which I feel should be made part of the Farm Bill, include $125 million over five years for increased purchases of surplus fresh produce for Department of Defense facilities and schools nationwide, an expansion of the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program to schools in all 50 states, greater flexibility for food stamp participants to purchase fresh produce, and a program to increase purchases by low-income families and the elderly at farmers markets to provide incentives for healthy eating that benefits the local economy. I am also a cosponsor of S. 790, the Simplified Summer Food Program, which makes it easier for children to receive school lunches during the summer.

Trade

I introduced S. 1426, a bill to reauthorize the Market Access Program (MAP) and the Foreign Market Development Cooperator Program (FMD) in the Farm Bill. In California, these programs have been leveraged with great success by producers, farmer cooperatives, and non-profit groups to promote our State’s many agricultural products in foreign markets. Increasing the authorizations of MAP to $325 million per year and FMD to $50 million per year is essential to the continued success of our nation’s foreign trade markets. Senators Durbin and Feinstein are cosponsors of this bill.

I am also the author of S. 1229, a bill that requires imported avocados to meet the same quality requirements as domestically produced avocados. Current USDA regulations allow imported Hass avocadoes to enter the country without being held to the same quality standards as those produced in California. To protect the interest of the consumer and Hass avocado growers in California, I urge you to include this bill in the Farm Bill.

I am also a cosponsor of a bill authored by Senator Feinstein that adds Clementine tangerines to the list of fruits and vegetables that are subject to minimum quality import requirements in order to ensure that imported Clementine tangerines are equal in quality to those produced in California. This bill also merits inclusion in the Farm Bill.

Research

I will soon introduce the Pollinator Protection Act, which authorizes $86 million over five years for research to protect the nation’s decreasing bee and pollinator population. Honeybees are responsible for pollinating $15 billion worth of crops throughout the nation, including many crop varieties in California, and a continued decrease in the bee population will have a tremendous impact on the nation’s agricultural economy. The priorities of this bill should be reflected in the research title of the Farm Bill.

Pest Detection

Agricultural pests like citrus canker, glassy-winged sharpshooter, sudden oak death, and others continue to burden California’s agricultural economy. The Farm Bill should promote coordinated efforts to control pest infestations and diseases.

To that end, I introduced S. 949, the Pest Detection and Surveillance Act (S.949), which creates a competitive grant program within USDA to help states leverage more funding for innovative pest detection programs. This bill is cosponsored by Senators Levin and Feinstein, and will allow State and county agricultural commissioners to more aggressively protect crops from pests and diseases.

Energy

The Farm Bill provides a tremendous opportunity to promote the development of alternative fuels and energy in a way that is beneficial to the environment, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and involves the entire agricultural community in the nationwide effort to reduce the output of greenhouse gases.

I strongly support the development of new technologies that promote the use of cellulosic ethanol from agricultural wastes. While corn ethanol has proven to be a useful new alternative fuel, I worry about its impact on corn prices for the livestock industry, especially in light of the fact that alternative fuels can be created by a number of other agricultural sources, many of which are produced in California. It is my hope that the Farm Bill recognizes the need to promote diversity in the development of alternative fuels.

More emphasis should also be placed on creating new energy sources on farms throughout the nation. In California, dairy farms are using methane digestion technology to turn dairy waste into electricity. The Farm Bill should provide incentives, loan guarantees, and loans for farmers to promote more activities like methane digestion and other renewable energy initiatives on farms all across the country.

Rural Development

I am a cosponsor of S. 1460, Senator Harkin’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Opportunity Act, and I support reauthorization of this program in the Farm Bill. In California, providing new farmers with start-up grants and technical assistance will help many of my State’s migrant farmers put down roots in communities throughout the state.

Organic Farming

The organic farming market has increased an average of 20 percent over each of the last few years, and many of those farms are located in California. Yet as the market for organic farming has increased rapidly in recent years, government support of farmers transitioning to organic practices has lagged behind.

Many barriers still exist for organic farming to continue to grow, including the lengthy requirements for certifying products as organic, a lack of market data to inform retailers and consumers, and limited access to foreign markets. I support efforts in the Farm Bill to reduce these barriers, as well as increased funding for the organic transition grants, increased funding for the Organic Certification Cost-Share program to $25 million per year, and increased funding for the Farmers Market Promotion Program to $20 million per year.

I thank you for your consideration of my requests for the Farm Bill; I look forward to working with you on achieving these goals.

Sincerely,

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Back to top