2008 Farm Bill Horticulture and Organic Highlights Merritt Taylor Lane Ag Center

Horticulture Policy Highlights and Horticulture Funding Highlights

Horticulture Policy Highlights Maintains integrity of U.S. planting flexibility policy.  Continues to maintain the planting flexibility safety net policy for fruit and vegetable farmers that ensures growers who receive federal payments, will not be able to also plant fruits and vegetables on that subsidized acreage.  

Horticulture Policy Highlights (cont) Successfully adds “processing (packing), storing and transportation” to the approved list of on-farm income related to the AGI (adjusted gross income) conservation programs. Many specialty crop producers also “process (including packing), store and transport” crops and were prevented from participating in conservation programs because their AGI exceeded the limits.

Horticulture Policy Highlights (cont) Prioritizes federal research activities for specialty crops. USDA will collaborate with specialty crop producers and organizations to develop and implement applied research and extension initiatives funded and sponsored by the agency. * NVCI (National Vegetable Committee Initiative) is developing prioritized goals for the Secretary.

Horticulture Policy Highlights (cont) Expands purchases of fruits and vegetables under Section 32 program.  Increases the minimum threshold (currently at $200 million per year) of Section 32 funds dedicated to fruit, vegetable and nut purchases and expands the Secretary’s purchase discretion to include value-added fruit, vegetable and nut products. Funding Levels: $390 FY08; $393 FY09; $399 FY10; $403 FY 11; $406 FY12.

Horticulture Policy Highlights (cont) Requires the Secretary to conduct a census of specialty crops to assist in the development and dissemination of specialty crop information. * This has never been done before in the Census of Agriculture

Horticulture Policy Highlights (cont) Improves provision for technical assistance under conservation programs. Includes provisions for specialty crop technical assistance in order to make sure specifications are complete and relevant. The provision seeks to ensure adequate technical assistance to specialty crop growers by directing the Secretary to develop programs that meet the needs of specialty crop growers using cooperative agreements with other federal agencies

Horticulture Funding Highlights $1.02 billion - Expands the Fresh Fruit & Vegetable Snack Program to all 50 states. The nationwide expansion of the Snack Program will develop life-long healthy eating habits for millions of children by providing fresh fruits and vegetables in our nation’s schools.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $466 million – Enhances funding for “Specialty Crop Block Grants” that focus on local efforts to enhance producers’ ability to compete in the marketplace and provide consumers with safe, abundant food.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $ 377 million – Creates a new Pest and Disease Program focused on combating invasive pests and disease, which cost the economy billions of dollars a year. This program will be a joint collaborative effort between the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) and State Departments of Agriculture.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $250 million – Provides the Department of Defense (DOD) “Fresh Program” which partners with USDA in a unique program to purchase and deliver fresh fruits and vegetable to schools and in schools. * In Oklahoma it is called the “Farm to School Program”

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $230 million – Establishes the Specialty Crop Research Initiative to develop and disseminate science-based tools to address the needs of specific crops and their regions. The research will focus on important priorities such as: Food Safety Mechanization Genetics Plant Breeding and Pests and Diseases.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $200 million (per year) – Maintains funding for the Market Access Program (MAP) which increases the availability and viability of U.S. specialty crops in foreign markets.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) 59 million – Enhances critical trade assistance and market promotion tools that will grow international markets for specialty crops. Technical Assistance for Specialty Crops (TASC) has proven to be successful tool with identifying and removing trade barriers for specialty crop producers.

Horticulture Funding Highlights (cont) $20 million – Creates the National Clean Plant Network To provide a sustainable source of healthy planting stock for fruit trees, nut trees and grapevines. The production of clean planting stock for horticultural crops has been in jeopardy due to the lack of public funding and adversely impacts key horticultural crops.

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill Organic Research and Extension. $78 Million in mandatory funding is allocated to the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI), USDA’s main competitive grants program for organic studies. This funding is spread out over four years, ($18 million a year in FY 09 and $20 million a year for each of fiscal years 2010-2012), and represents a five-fold increase over the 2002 bill.

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Organic Research and Extension (cont) There is also authority for additional appropriations of up to $25 Million per year. The bill also adds two new focuses to the program: seed breeding for organic systems, and study of the conservation outcomes of organic practices

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Organic Market Data Collection. $5 Million in first-time mandatory funding over the life of the bill is provided for collection and analysis of economic information for organic agriculture. Authority is given for additional appropriations up to $5 Million per year. The 2002 provision for organic data collection had no mandatory funding at all

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Certification Cost-Share. Reimbursements for the cost of organic certification for organic producers and handlers are renewed and funding over the life of the bill is increased to $22 Million (up from $5 Million in the 2002 law). A maximum of $750 per year (increased from $500) is available to any certified producer or handler, to reimburse up to 75% of annual certification costs. This provision is important for many smaller organic farms and processors.  

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Crop Insurance Fairness. Requires USDA to develop improvements in crop insurance policies for organic producers. Although the 5% premium surcharge for organic farmers will not immediately be removed, the review of the necessity of the surcharge that is required to be conducted in the provision will likely result in a reduction or elimination of the surcharge.

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Crop Insurance Fairness (cont) The provision changes the practice of paying organic farmers at the conventional rather than the organic rate should they experience a crop loss by requiring the development and implementation of options for organic payouts, with the goal of offering the payout for all organic crops within five years as sufficient data becomes available

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Organic Conversion Assistance. A new provision to support the transition to organic production is included as part of the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP). Support payments may be up to $20,000 per year, but no more than $80,000 over six years, excluding any money given for technical assistance. Support is also available for technical assistance in making the transition, within the general technical assistance system of the USDA’s conservation programs

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Conservation Stewardship Program. Formerly the Conservation Security Program, CSP receives large increase in mandatory funding, making it a truly national program to reward stewardship performance. The new bill includes a provision streamlining coordination between CSP and the National Organic Program. This “cross-walk” provision is intended to make it much easier and simpler for organic producers to qualify for CSP and be rewarded for the conservation benefits of their organic system.

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) National Organic Program funding. Provides new appropriations authority for the USDA National Organic Program (NOP), which regulates organic standards and certification. Under-funding of this program has been a severe problem as the organic sector has grown so rapidly in recent years. The bill urges the administration and Congressional appropriators to increase NOP funding to $5 Million now (currently at $3.1 Million), rising to $11 Million by 2012

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) ”Pesticide Non-discrimination.” Removes an amendment from the House bill that would have prevented USDA from “discriminating” against any specific pesticides in providing conservation program benefits to farmers.

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Conservation loans. USDA’s loan program for the costs of some conservation improvements will now include a priority for farmers converting to organic conservation systems

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Conservation Reserve Program. If a retiring owner with land enrolled in this program transfers it to a beginning, socially disadvantaged, or limited resource farmer, the new bill allows for the farmer to whom the land is being transferred to begin the organic certification process up to one year before the CRP contract expires

Organic Provisions of the 2008 Farm Bill (cont) Classical Breeding Research. Classical (or “conventional”, i.e., non-transgenic) plant and animal breeding is added as a purpose of the major USDA competitive research grants program (renamed as the “Agriculture and Food Research Initiative”).

Horticulture Information Source: Western Growers http://www.wga.com Organic Information Source: Organic Farming Research Institute http://www.ofrf.org

For Future Information: Merritt Taylor Lane Ag Center Phone (580)-889-7343 Email: mtaylor-okstate@lane-ag.org Web: http://www.lane-ag.org