Farm Bill Poses New Challenges for Potato Growers
POTATO
Bangor Daily News
Carlene Olsen
Boston University Washington News Service
2/28/07
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 – Maine potato growers said Wednesday that funding cuts proposed under the reauthorization of federal farm subsidies could hurt key research initiatives in the state.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns said that the proposed legislation would offer increased support for specialty crop growers, such as fruit, nuts and potatoes. Specialty crop sales now exceed the combined sales of the five big commodity crops – wheat, corn, soybeans, rice and cotton – he said.
Farmers from across the country convened this week to discuss industry concerns and the proposed farm bill at the National Potato Council’s annual policy conference.
The 2007 U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Bill, a five-year plan last changed in 2002, that outlines government funding, subsidy payments and research programs for the agriculture industry, was a main topic.
“If we are serious about securing the future of agriculture, we need to tend as well to our specialty crops as we have done with our program crops in the past years,” Johanns said.
But Potato Council members from Maine said the plan could hurt key research initiatives, like the University of Maine’s Integrated Pest Management program, which, is run mostly on Department of Agriculture grants.
“The funding for the farm bill isn’t what it has been,” said Steve Crane, a vice president of the council and an Exeter resident. “This year we have a smaller piece of the pie to work with.”
The pest management program monitors weather and ground conditions each week at 125 state farms, offering growers a 10-day warning period that can prevent major disease outbreaks, Jim Dwyer, crops specialist at the university, said in a telephone interview. The program informs state potato farmers about fungi growth, such as late blight, and other hazards to prevent wide-spread crop damage.
“Late Blight is the same fungus that caused the great potato famine in Ireland in the 1940s and it is still a major concern for growers today,” Dwyer said. “In 2006, [the program] saved Maine potato farmers about $13 million due to advance notice.”
Pest management programs are “vitally important” for the industry, Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud, of the 2nd District, said in a telephone interview.
The potato industry contributed $500 million to the state’s economy in 2006 and accounted for 27 percent of the potatoes shipped in the northeast, according to data from the Maine Department of Agriculture.
The farm bill proposes to eliminate certain growing restrictions for subsidy-paid farmers, which would increase competition for the state’s estimated 350 to 375 independent potato growers, according to Dan LaBrie, a council member and potato grower from St. Agatha
Unlike specialty growers, commodity crop farmers receive subsidy payments and would be allowed to grow potatoes on their land, LaBrie said.
“Individual farmers are trying to impose acreage restrictions to keep the [potato] supply in balance,” he said, adding that there would be “unfair compensation” among growers under the new bill.
It is unclear if acreage restrictions for commodity farmers will be removed under the new bill, though it would be a “significant problem,” said Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, of the 1st District.
“There is a disagreement between the administration, which wants to remove those restrictions, and… many members of Congress in both the House and the Senate,” Allen said in a telephone interview.
But, Johanns, citing a series of nationwide Farm Bill forums, said that market promotion and trade assistance is a larger industry concern than subsidy payments.
“What we heard from specialty crop producers was that they were really not asking for cash subsidies,” the secretary said. “But … there was a need for more assistance in certain areas.”
Council members met with state representatives and senators to discuss the proposed farm bill during the conference Tuesday.
“One of the things we need to look at is the overall funding [of the bill] and to make sure the North East regions are not left behind,” Michaud said after meeting with Potato Council members. “The west has definitely benefited from the bill in the past and it’s time we have a fair program.”
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Proposed 2007 Farm Bill Plans for Specialty Crops
Although proposed spending for the 2007 bill totals $10 billion less than the 2002 law, more money would be directed to specialty crops to balance past spending that favored program crops, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns said.
Specialty crop proposals under the new bill would add:
- $68 million in mandatory funding for technical assistance to help farmers promote and develop new sales markets in addition to a $250 million boost for market access promotion.
- $500 million in new funding over the next 10 years to the National School Lunch and Breakfast Program to buy more fruits and vegetables for children.
- $2.75 billion in new funding to support nutrition assistance programs.
- $1 billion added over the next 10 years for a new specialty crop research initiative to address plant breeding, disease management and crop growth issues.
Source: Speech by U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns to National Potato Council members in Washington Feb. 27, 2007.
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