Most people in the nursery industry pay little attention to national Farm Bills, but the 2007 Farm Bill could be different. Many predict it will have a large impact on specialty crop producers, including nursery growers. The bill could include helpful new programs, including those designed to eradicate emergency pests. I turned to John Farner for details.
Q. What are the primary ways the Farm Bill affects nursery growers?
A. Historically, the effects have been minimal. Aside from a few conservation programs (such as Environmental Quality Incentives Program, or EQIP), the nursery industry has strategically stayed out of past Farm Bill debates.
We pride ourselves as being a free-market crop and have purposefully stayed away from government intrusion.
This year, there is a new focus on the so-called “specialty crops” for the 2007 bill that will bring some new priorities into the debate that will surely help our industry compete without going down the road of subsidies and government intervention.
Q. How is ANLA trying to influence what’s in the 2007 Farm Bill?
A. Over the past years ANLA, through our leadership structure and relationships with other industry groups, has set a group of policies dealing mainly with pest and disease issues and research, which we have now translated into a group of proposals for the upcoming Farm Bill.
Because lawmakers want broad programs affecting many crops, not just sector-specific initiatives, ANLA joined into a partnership with the Society of American Florists. We now sit in a leadership position on the national Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, which includes other crops such as fruits and vegetables.
Q. How would you like the 2007 Farm Bill to address pest issues?
A. First and foremost, the partnership that our industry shares with USDA on the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative works. Giving industry a voice about how research dollars are spent is a crucial element to its success.
What we’re looking to do in the realm of pests and diseases is very similar. Congress should look for ways to tap the private sector to serve as a full partner in protection against and eradication of serious plant pests and disease.
This is not all we’re proposing, though. We’re also looking for Congress to provide protection -- a safety net, if you will -- for plant growers to be on the same footing as those raising things with hooves and claws.
Emergency money to compensate growers who have had their plants destroyed by quarantine pests is often tied up by bureaucratic hurdles. Lessening this regulation is just an example of what we’re looking to do.
Q. Describe the systems-approach for nursery regulation ANLA has proposed.
A. Recent experience with Ralstonia and Phytophthora ramorum suggests that the regulation of nurseries is undergoing a fundamental shift. The premise behind a proposed systems approach is that scarce resources of both the industry and the government are best focused on achieving sound production rather than chasing pests and diseases through end-point inspection.
A systems approach, if properly designed, may offer greater protection from pests at less cost to the government.
Though we do not set the specifics of a systems approach, we call for a pilot program to fund research into the development and validation of systems approaches, in a partnership between industry and the federal government.
Q. How can the Farm Bill be used to secure more research funding for nursery crops?
A. The Farm Bill itself is an authorizing bill, not an appropriating vehicle. So, securing federal dollars for research, such as the Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative, will need to be done through the fiscal year 2008 and beyond.
However, our proposals do support increased research programs within USDA, such as making specialty crop research a priority within the National Research Initiative. We also encourage the creation of a National Clean Plant Network, which would establish (or maintain) centers that have the expertise, facilities and climate necessary to efficiently produce and distribute healthy planting stock.
Q. What are some other nursery issues the 2007 Farm Bill might address?
A. We’re watching several other issues that the Farm Bill will definitely address. Among them are EQIP, which will be addressed in the conservation debate, and a permanent disaster relief program.
Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.), continues to state his support for a permanent disaster relief title to be included in the 2007 Farm Bill. The ANLA has already gone on record to support the qualification of nursery crops and Christmas trees in the Tree Assistance Program (TAP), and expanding qualification for cost-share funding to clean up post-disaster debris through the Emergency Conservation Program.
The industry should be fairly covered under what will be proposed.
Q. When most people think, ‘Farm Bill,’ they think subsidies for traditional farmers. Many complained the previous Farm Bill got away from the ‘freedom to farm’ movement, designed to wean
U.S. farmers from subsidies. Will the 2007 Farm Bill go the other way?
A. A fundamental government function is to protect and to nurture the common infrastructure so that private enterprise, such as nursery growers, may flourish. However, farm bills have historically veered from market signals and toward government control.
This is why the nursery industry has not been involved in past farm bill debates. This year, there seems to be a new focus on what the 2007 Farm Bill should do, as members of Congress and the Bush administration look to the future of U.S. agriculture.
While it doesn’t seem that policy makers want to move away from subsidy programs completely, there are efforts underway to have the Farm Bill be more comprehensive. This doesn’t mean that the price-control programs won’t be a part of the farm bill. In fact, the program crop title will again be a huge part of what the farm bill is.
Yet, there is strong interest in reforming the support programs, and dividing the pie more fairly. This new focus, supported by leaders such as Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns, is welcomed by the ANLA and other specialty crop organizations.
Q. When do you expect the 2007 Farm Bill to be passed?
A. While the debate hasn’t officially begun, there are several conversations occurring at the subcommittee level and draft bills dealing with the nursery industry, within the scope of specialty crops, are being introduced within the month. The debate should really begin this spring with an effort to pass the bill by the fall.
There is even a good chance that work on the bill could extend into next year.
Name: John Farner
Title: Director of legislative relations.
Firm: ANLA,
1000 Vermont Ave. N.W., Suite 300,
Washington,
DC20005; (202) 789-5980;
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
; www.anla.org.
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