Specialty Crops Bill

It was the last place Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns expected a standing-room-only crowd for the Bush administration's traveling road show farm bill proposal unveiling. It was not the traditional cotton, rice, corn and wheat growers packing Harvest Hall at the Stanislaus County Ag Center. It was producers of almonds, grapes, walnuts, pistachios, citrus, strawberries, peaches, plums, nectarines and cherries hanging on every word the Midwest-raised secretary of agriculture had to say about the administration's version of what it wants in a 2007 Farm Bill. It will be Congress who decides what the federal government's farm policy will look like; however, for the first time in history specialty crops are a major part of an administration farm bill proposal. "Never before have specialty crops had this kind of place in a farm bill in the history of farm bills dating back to the 1920s on the edge of Depression," said Johanns. Specialty crops were specifically earmarked for nearly US$5 billion in spending in the proposed farm bill. However, the conservation and bio-energy titles of the proposal could have even greater positive impact on California and Arizona, well beyond the specific specialty crops provision. Overall, what Johanns detailed to producers and others in the heart of California's San Joaquin Valley could impact Western agriculture, as no other farm bill has.