To say specialty crop leaders are disappointed that the House final spending bill, released Tuesday, did not include emergency economic relief for specialty crops would be a huge understatement.
After the recent Bridge Assistance Package left less than $1 billion of a $12-billion package for specialty crops, National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles said this is deeply concerning.
“What we are facing right now, there is no, there’s no Band-Aid for that other than this economic relief package. There’s nothing else out there that will close this gap for these producers who are in really, really difficult economic situations right now.”
Quarles says Congress is working on things for specialty crops that will help down the road.
“But the problem is, if you’re an individual farmer, and you go bankrupt, you go out of business before those policies ever kick in, then it just doesn’t really matter.”
Quarles says specialty crops aren’t one of the big three commodities, but…
“When you think of all the agricultural commodities that are produced for food consumption, not talking about textiles, or ethanol, or those kinds of things, but when you’re talking about consumption for food, specialty crops are half of everything the U.S. produces.”
Quarles says that with producers facing rising costs, major labor problems, and severe market challenges, this really hurts.