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Farmers Seek Help for Specialty Crops

Posted on: Monday, 12 June 2006, 06:00 CDT

By SHANNON DININNY

YAKIMA, Wash. - Fruit and vegetable growers in the Pacific Northwest want access to new markets and more money for research, rather than direct subsidies to stay afloat, a panel of farmers from Washington and Oregon told members of a congressional committee.

Their voices marked what could be the beginning of a fractious debate over dividing money in the next farm bill, between farmers who grow heavily-subsidized crops and those whose specialty crops receive less federal aid.

In Washington state, agriculture is the No. 1 industry, valued at about $5.5 billion. Washington farmers grow more than 230 crops, putting the state second behind only California in diversity of crops.

Many of those crops are considered specialty crops - generally fruits, vegetables, nuts and berries - that do not receive direct payments or other aid when prices or demand is low. Washington is the nation's top producer of apples, pears, sweet cherries, carrots, red raspberries, juice grapes and hops.

"In the past, fruit and vegetable growers have been treated in the farm bill like stepchildren," said Larry Olsen, who with his brother farms more than 2,100 acres of apples, cherries, grapes, hops, blueberries and wheat.

"Sometimes our crops are so small, so insignificant, in the bigger trade issues," Olsen said. "The fear of specialty crop producers is that we will be lost in the shuffle."

The public hearing Saturday was the seventh hosted by members of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee. The lawmakers are hearing farmers' concerns about federal farm policy before the next farm bill is passed.

The bill governs everything from conservation programs to trade and marketing. The current five-year farm bill, approved in 2002, expires in September 2007. Under the current bill, the federal government expects to spend $20 billion subsidizing farmers this year.

Four of every 10 farmers receive government subsidies, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. However, those subsidies go primarily to those who grow corn, wheat, rice, cotton and soybeans.

Specialty crops finally received recognition in the most recent bill, but that support needs to increase and more programs need to be tailored to specialty industries, said Ron Rivers, who grows pears in Parkdale, Ore.

Money is needed for research to fight pests or mechanize harvesting, thereby reducing labor costs. In addition, Rivers said, specialty crop growers need more assistance to gain access to new markets. Those include welfare and school lunch programs, which would aid fruit and vegetable growers.

Other farmers offered a different take on federal subsidies.

"We have a cheap-food policy in this country. To maintain that, we need to subsidize our industry, either through direct payments or otherwise," said Larry Stap, a Lynden dairy farmer.

Key to the subsidy debate will be the ongoing trade negotiations with the World Trade Organization. Poorer countries say the subsidies give U.S. farmers an unfair advantage by enabling them to undercut cheaper competitors from abroad.

Republican Rep. Jerry Moran, whose Kansas district includes many so-called program crops, said growers and lawmakers must work together to find other ways for U.S. farmers to compete in a global market.

"Unfortunately, I hate to admit this, but there have been some years recently where I would not have shown a profit without direct payments," said Curtis Hennings, a wheat producer from Ritzville.

At the same time, Hennings said, lawmakers could still find other ways to support producers beyond direct payments, such as money for water storage in the drought-susceptible Yakima Valley or to boost the renewable fuel industry.

"I realize that's an extremely difficult issue," Hennings said. "Maybe we just need to really kick things in gear, such as the ethanol industry, and consume more of our products at home."

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On the Net:

http://agriculture.house.gov

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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