Most of the programs related to specialty crops don’t have funding increases in the proposed House farm bill. Rather that status quo, National Potato Council Senior Director of Public Policy Kam Quarles says there are cuts in the specialty crop research program. “It won’t deliver the $80 million, it will only be $55 million. They’ll divert that money to the citrus industry for a disease they’re dealing with. The resources for specialty crop research are badly needed. It was designed to operate at a particular level and we want to see it deliver on that design.”
Quarles says the potato industry wants to get a farm bill solution finalized before the current legislation expires at the end of September.
RRFN’s Farm Bill Focus coverage is sponsored, in part, by the National Potato Council.