Chairman Dennis Cardoza (D-Calif.) convened the Horticulture and Organic Agriculture Subcommittee to consider the draft of provisions of the farm bill that falls within its jurisdiction. After several amendments and extensive discussion, the subcommittee reported on its draft, which will join the other subcommittees’ sections at the full Agriculture Committee scheduled for later this month.
The draft bill suffers from a lack of resources, something Chairman Cardoza himself admitted, according to the American Nursery & Landscape Association (ANLA). Several items of interest to the nursery and floriculture industry and many priorities from the larger specialty crop coalition were only “authorized,” which means actual funding, if any, would have to wait for the appropriations process.
In addition, several priorities such as fixing the problems with emergency pest funding and expanding access to loan programs for building farmworker housing were kicked to the full committee or other subcommittees with jurisdiction. As the farm bill debate continues, much of the work will be to secure actual dollars for ANLA and green industry priorities. Nevertheless, as reported out of the subcommittee, the bill does the following:
- Amends the Tree Assistance Program so nursery and Christmas trees are eligible for compensation; existing law limits these disaster payments to trees that produce annual crops. At the same time, the committee accepted an amendment by Rep. Kuhl (R-N.Y.) to raise the ceiling on payments to $150,000.
- Shifts from the Department of Homeland Security to the United States Department of Agriculture the border inspectors tasked with keeping out foreign pests and diseases.
- Authorizes funding for the Clean Plant Network. Rep. Kuhl offered this amendment and lamented the lack of “mandatory spending” attached to this program. In response, Chairman Cardoza pledged to work with Kuhl to obtain such dollars when the full Committee addresses the farm bill.
- Creates the Threat Identification and Mitigation Program that would task APHIS to identify and take action against emerging pest risks.
- Creates a grant program for best management practices development. Though it is only authorized as the bill now stands, this program would provide funds and technical assistance to specialty crop growers for the development and implementation of “certification systems based on audit-based approaches, such as best management practices or nursery pest risk management systems, to address plant pests.”
Much of the discussion focused on plant pest issues and the need for the bill to adequately address this key policy area. Rep. Mahoney (D-Fla.) sought and received the Chairman’s assurance that the emergency funding issues will be addressed when the full Committee considers disaster issues. ANLA farm bill policy priorities can be viewed at www.anla.org.
