[Senate Hearing 118-369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 118-369
HORTICULTURE TITLE: HOW THE FARM BILL
WORKS FOR SPECIALTY CORP PRODUCERS
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HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
FOOD AND NUTRITION, SPECIALTY CROPS,
RGANICS, AND RESEARCH
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE,
NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
June 7, 2023
__________
Printed for the use of the
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available on http://www.govinfo.gov/
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
56-335 PDF WASHINGTON : 2024
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COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE, NUTRITION, AND FORESTRY
DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan, Chairwoman
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado JOHN HOEVEN, North Dakota
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York JONI ERNST, Iowa
TINA SMITH, Minnesota CINDY HYDE-SMITH, Mississippi
RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia CHARLES GRASSLEY, Iowa
PETER WELCH, Vermont JOHN THUNE, South Dakota
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania DEB FISCHER, Nebraska
Erica Chabot, Majority Staff Director
Chu-Yuan Hwang, Majority Chief Counsel
Jessica L. Williams, Chief Clerk
Fitzhugh Elder IV, Minority Staff Director
Jackie Barber, Minority Chief Counsel
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Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and
Research
JOHN FETTERMAN, Pennsylvania Chairman
SHERROD BROWN, Ohio MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky
KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, New York JONI ERNST, Iowa
CORY BOOKER, New Jersey ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
RAPHAEL WARNOCK, Georgia TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
C O N T E N T S
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Wednesday, June 7, 2023
Page
Hearing:
Horticulture Title: How The Farm Bill Works For Specialty Corp
Producers...................................................... 1
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STATEMENTS PRESENTED BY SENATORS
Fetterman, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania 1
Braun, Hon. Mike, U.S. Senator from the State of Indiana......... 2
WITNESSES
Alonzo, Chris, Owner/Operator, Pietro Farms, Kennett Square, PA.. 3
Carter, Nicholas, Owner, Mud Creek Farm; Co-Founder, Market
Wagon, Indianapolis, IN........................................ 5
Wingard, Charles A., Vice President, Field Operations, Walter P.
Rawl and Sons, Pelion, SC...................................... 7
Worthington, Margaret Leigh, Ph.D., Associate Professor,
Horticulture, University of Arkansas System Division of
Agriculture, Fayetteville, AR.................................. 9
Kobus, Diana, Executive Director, PCO Certified Organic, Spring
Mills, PA...................................................... 11
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APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Alonzo, Chris................................................ 30
Carter, Nicholas............................................. 31
Wingard, Charles A........................................... 35
Worthington, Margaret Leigh, Ph.D............................ 40
Kobus, Diana................................................. 46
Question and Answer:
Alonzo, Chris:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Fetterman....... 52
Worthington, Margaret Leigh, Ph.D.:
Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........ 54
Kobus, Diana:
Written response to questions from Hon. John Fetterman....... 56
Written response to questions from Hon. Amy Klobuchar........ 58
HORTICULTURE TITLE: HOW THE FARM BILL WORKS FOR SPECIALTY CORP
PRODUCERS
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Wednesday, June 7, 2023
U.S. Senate
Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops,
Organics, and Research
Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m., in
room 328A, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John Fetterman,
Chairman of the Subcommittee, presiding.
Present: Senators Fetterman [presiding], Stabenow, Brown,
Klobuchar, Booker, Warnock, Braun, Boozman, Marshall and
Tuberville.
Also Present: Senator Welch
STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN FETTERMAN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE
OF PENNSYLVANIA
Senator Fetterman. Good morning. I call this hearing of the
U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition and Specialty
Crops, Organics, and Research to order.
We need a farm bill that works for all of our farmers. That
includes small farmers, and critically, farmers who grow crops
like hemp, fruits, tree nuts, and vegetables. That is why we
are holding this hearing today. The farm bill safety net
programs have been vital for some producers, but as we consider
this farm bill we must expand the support for specialty crops.
This is an opportunity to decrease risk for our farmers,
stabilize our food supply chain, increase accessibility to
healthy fruits and vegetables, and support an important sector
of this agriculture industry, and supporting specialty crop
producers is crucial for my State, with a robust specialty crop
industry.
Particularly, Pennsylvania is known for its booming
mushroom industry, in fact, it's known as the mushroom of the
capital world. More than 60 percent of mushrooms produced in
the United States is grown right in Kennett Square in
Pennsylvania. Woo-hoo.
[Laughter.]
Senator Fetterman. Mushroom farms are significant regional
economic drivers. According to Penn State Extension, the
industry employs nearly 9,500 people in the region and
contributes an estimated $2.7 billion to our local economy.
Currently mushroom producers are not covered under crop
insurance. This exclusion could harm mushroom producers and the
broader local economy. That is not just a mushroom problem. It
is also not just a Pennsylvania problem, specialty crops are
drivers of local economies across the country. The bottom line
is that we can strengthen local economies, supporting these
small farms.
My colleagues and I have already been working ahead to
support small farmers. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of Senator
Brown's Local Farms and Food Act of 2023. This bill will invest
in farmers by making it easier for them to grow their
businesses, sell directly to their communities. This is a
necessary investment in rural communities that will increase
access to nutritious, locally grown crops. It will cut red tape
and make it easier for farmers to bring their products to
market. I am also excited to announce my bipartisan Protecting
Mushroom Farmers Act. This will be directed at USDA to study
crop insurance for mushroom production, to help these farmers.
Finally, I look forward to working closely with my colleague,
Senator Braun, to support farms impacted by the horticulture
title.
I am now pleased to turn this over to Senator Braun.
STATEMENT OF HON. MIKE BRAUN, U.S. SENATOR FROM THE STATE OF
INDIANA
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is interesting
here because we are talking about a small part of the farm
bill, and the farm bill is at a record level in terms of
spending. I am concerned about that larger picture of where we
are at as a government in terms of how we are borrowing so much
money, just routinely, year after year. Many things that we
need to well here, this would be an example of it.
This is a small percentage of the farm bill, but as the
Chairman has talked about, this is that leading edge of where
you are coming up with new ideas for agriculture. You are also
addressing sustainability. We have got panelists here today
that will help us out with that discussion.
Indiana is a State where it is the second-biggest industry,
and we are the largest State in the country on manufacturing
per capita. Agriculture is right there behind it. We are known
for a lot of specialty crops, including tomatoes for process
experiment, peppermint, watermelons. I, back many years ago,
started a turkey brooding and raising business that was right
when they were coming from the range into confinement. That is
how important agriculture is to our State.
Just like with many things, you have got to be careful that
you keep it entrepreneurial, you keep a good business
environment. A lot of times with any legislation comes
regulation that sometimes works across purposes. I want to make
sure that we are aware of that.
A couple of bills out there that we are sponsoring. The
Plant Biostimulant Act. They have taken off in foreign markets.
They are less known in the U.S. My bill would build on the USDA
report from 2018 by codifying a definition of plant
biostimulant and ensuring that these products have a clear
pathway to market. Something new. We want to make sure it has
got the proper amount of regulation. We do not want to stifle
it along the way.
Industrial Hemp Act. That is from the time I spent here, a
big industry across at least 18 to 20 other countries, mostly
for the fiber, not the oil or the seed stock in producing it.
We need to get at that forefront, so we are a competitor in the
world arena there. I have got a bill, along with Senator
Tester, that I think is at the forefront of putting that proper
mix of good context for the industry. Again, do not
overregulate it.
American Food for American Schools Act, another bill out
there.
I think, from this Committee, I am glad the Chairman is
putting emphasis on small entities within agriculture, the
things that are going to turn it around into being an industry
maybe different from what it is today. This discussion right
here today is where it starts. I am glad to be a part of it and
am looking forward to hearing from our witnesses.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Senator, and I am excited to
hear from the expert witnesses joining us today, and who will
introduce themselves shortly.
We have Mr. Chris Alonzo, the President and Owner of Pietro
Industries, Inc., and a third-generation mushroom farmer in
Kennett Square.
Mr. Charles Wingard, the Vice President of Field Operations
at Walter Rawl and Sons, Inc., based in Pelion, South Carolina.
Ms. Diana Kobus, the Executive Director for PCO Certified
Organic.
Now I turn this back over to my colleague, Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. I have the pleasure of introducing Mr. Nick
Carter from Indiana, a true entrepreneur. When we met earlier
so many parallels. When I got started as an entrepreneur many,
many years, you are doing it in an area I think that is so
important. You are a farmer, entrepreneur, co-founder of Market
Wagon, an online marketplace that connects food consumers
directly with local farmers and artisans. Nick has co-founded
or founded over half a dozen companies in technology and food
sectors. He currently operates his own family farm called Mud
Creek Farm. He is an active investor and advocate for food and
agricultural businesses. From the day he got out of high
school, he has been an entrepreneur and involved, and an
amazing track record.
He is an active member of the Indiana Farm Bureau and
serves on the organization's Diversified Agriculture Policy
Advisory Group. He is passionate about using innovation to
reconnect agri and culture. He is also the author of ``More
Than a Mile: What America Needs From Local Food.'' I look
forward to hearing your thoughts.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you.
Mr. Alonzo, we will now start with your opening statement.
You are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF CHRIS ALONZO, OWNER/OPERATOR, PIETRO FARMS,
KENNETT SQUARE, PA
Mr. Alonzo. Senators Fetterman and Braun and members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for having me here today. My name is
Chris Alonzo, and as you heard, I am a third-generation
mushroom farmer from Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, and I have
been growing mushrooms my whole life. I saw it with my father
and followed in his footsteps.
While production in California, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee
and other States are also strong with mushrooms, Pennsylvania
produces two-thirds of all the mushrooms in the country. With
this, we do this 365 days a year with agriculture. We employ
over 10,000 people in mushrooms. However, we know that for
every ag job there are five non-ag jobs. Really, it is over
50,000 people, and that is what contributes to the economy in
Pennsylvania and to the country.
Our farm, Pietro Industries, Pietro means Peter in Italian,
my grandfather's name, was founded in 1938. My grandfather was
a founding member of the American Mushroom Institute, and so I
am representing AMI today. In addition, I was on the board of
the USDA-based Mushroom Council, so I come to you today humbly
with a lot of experience talking about mushrooms, which I love.
Mushrooms are a uniquely nutritious, fresh, and functional
food. It is a great source of protein and disease-fighting
properties. Researchers have identified cancer-inhibiting
compounds in the grocery store mushroom. They found that just
adding a little bit of mushrooms into your diet helps increase
the intake of these micronutrients, like vitamin D.
Mushrooms also have a great taste, great ``umami'' flavor,
and they are healthy, they are hearty, they are filling.
Whether you are a vegetarian or a meat-eater, they either make
the main plate of the meal or they are a great addition to your
meal. My son actually loves to go in, pick them off the beds,
eat them straight whenever I give tours, and ask the other
people on the tour to eat them fresh. Not everybody does.
Mushrooms are also uniquely sustainable. They reuse water
and grow on a small footprint. Just one acre of land can grow a
million pounds of mushrooms a year. That is this controlled
environment that we can have within mushrooms. That is also
what makes us different and unique than some other crops, why
we are here, why we are specialty crops.
The mushroom compost, the food for the mushroom, is
formulated using 30 different ag byproducts--corn, corn stove,
hay, straw, poultry litter. We take all these byproducts from
other farmers and make into our beneficial uses. We grow
mushrooms and we also have the byproduct which is a great soil
at the end. It is the food we eat, and this soil at the end,
and taking these byproducts from other farmers, helps keep the
watershed healthy with less runoff. Mushroom growers,
therefore, not only produce mushrooms but a reusable, value-add
soil amendment that sequesters carbon and regenerates soil.
All of these nutrition and mushroom compost discoveries
have come from investment in research. Yet, the mushroom
industry lacks critical resources required to stay competitive
when it comes to operations. In an increasingly fast-paced
agricultural sector, mushrooms need a few things. We need
research on integrated pest management to mitigate mushroom-
specific pests and pathogens. We need research on the
beneficial uses of mushroom compost, which is not a fertilizer
but actually sequesters carbon and regenerates our soil. We
need research on harvesting mechanization for increased yield,
quality, and employee retention. We also need research on the
potential value to the industry of crop insurance.
These mushrooms are too perishable to import or export
overseas. Fresh mushrooms are actually a national commodity
that should be treasured. We need your help. Mushroom farmers
are truly feeding America, and your support of research through
the Farm Bill will strengthen this agricultural legacy for
years to come.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Alonzo can be found on page
30 in the appendix.]
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. Now I acknowledge my
colleague, Senator Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman and Ranking
Member Braun, for holding this hearing today and the great job
that you have been doing with this Committee. This is such an
important subject.
I want to take a second to introduce Dr. Worthington, and
it is very much my pleasure to introduce her this morning. She
is joining us from my home State of Arkansas. We are very, very
proud of her and her work.
Dr. Worthington is an Associate Professor for Horticulture
at the University of Arkansas. She holds a Ph.D. in crop
science from North Carolina State University, and a master of
science in horticulture and agronomy and international
agriculture development from the University of California,
Davis.
Earlier this year, Dr. Worthington was part of a team of 26
scientists from across the world that assembled the first
complete sequence of the blackberry genome. This achievement
will be a great help to fruit breeders striving to develop
improved varieties that are more resistant to disease and
tolerant of drought, as well as have greater nutrition and
better taste.
Dr. Worthington's cutting-edge work is a testament to the
importance of modern breeding tools to our specialty crop
sector, in particular. We are grateful for the expertise she
will share with us today. I am also grateful she brought us a
sample of some of the work that she was doing, freshly picked,
as she came up yesterday.
Thank you very much for being here. I thank all of the
panel, and I love mushrooms, so I was glad to hear the mushroom
story.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Fetterman. Mr. Carter, we are now recognizing you
for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF NICHOLAS CARTER, OWNER, MUD CREEK FARM; CO-
FOUNDER, MARKET WAGON, INDIANAPOLIS, IN
Mr. Carter. Thank you Chairman Fetterman, Ranking Member
Braun, and members of the Subcommittee. Good morning. Thank you
for the opportunity to be here today.
My name is Nick Carter. I testify in front of you today as
the owner of Mud Creek Farm, I am a farmer, co-founder of
Market Wagon, and also as a member of Indiana Farm Bureau.
Mud Creek Farm is, by all measures, a small farm. On just
20 acres we have 400 laying hens, will finish about 20 head of
lamb a year, and we do grow a couple of acres of specialty
crops. That includes about an 800-square-foot greenhouse. Like
I said, by all measures very small. All of our sales are direct
to consumer. The majority of it is through an on-farm retail
stand, and the rest goes through Market Wagon.
While our farm is small, when 1,500 or more other small
farms just like us come together in a marketplace like Market
Wagon, then the real scope and impact of small farming comes
into focus.
Market Wagon is a marketplace that is comprise of small,
diversified farms and food purveyors just like ours, in 15
States. We delivered nearly a million orders to over 70,000
customers and making real impact for small family farms all
across the Midwest and South. I am proud of that work.
The challenges that Mud Creek Farm and other farms like us
face are many, but there are a few I wanted to highlight today.
One is matching supply with demand. If we have extra crop as a
small farmer, it is not at the scale that any institutional
buyer could look at. Any supply glut is really ours to deal
with. That means that we have to match the supply to the
demand. We have to find a consumer for the crop as it is ready.
To mitigate that risk, we diversify what we are growing and
when we grow it--season extenders, high tunnels, things of that
nature. We need, also, every possible market opportunity so
that we can market the crop when it is available.
The second one to highlight is just management of capital.
When you diversify the farm like we have--and when I say that
we do both crops and livestock, and that is a key integration
of those two things in a biome there--there become innumerable
small implements like transplanters, mulch layers, manure
spreaders, that each one of them could create tremendous
efficiencies. The challenge is knowing where to deploy that
capital and how to prevent over-leveraging so that one bad year
does not make the farm insolvent.
Through Indiana Farm Bureau I have had the opportunity to
advocate for specialty crop producers at the State level. A
policy action group that I served on helps to craft policy that
lowered the regulatory hurdles for small farms to sell their
products to local consumers. Ultimately, that policy turned
into a bill, and that bill was signed by Governor Eric Holcomb
last year, and we are already seeing impact in our State, and I
am proud of that work.
However, resources for specialty crop growers cannot just
be at the Statehouse. The farm bill is a perfect opportunity to
show support for these producers.
Senators Roger Marshall and Peter Welch recently introduced
a bill that would allow new ways for small producers to sell
products across State lines, the DIRECT Act. It is an
important, long-overdue modernization of the FSIS code that
gives diversified farms, just like ours, increased access to
sell direct to consumers, which is very, very important to us.
I would strongly encourage you to advance that bill this year.
Programs such as the LFPP and Farm to School are great, but
these grant programs need to become less onerous to apply for
and manage in order for them to be accessible to small farmers.
Schools are the largest institutions that are embedded in
the very community where diversified farms exist and have
Federal buying power. In Indiana, we passed legislation that
would allows schools to buy from local FFA chapters. Congress
should consider ways to give more flexibility and incentives to
local schools to purchase locally grown fruits and vegetables
right from their own community.
I support a robust crop insurance program, but as
implemented, the current crop insurance programs are not really
feasible for diversified farms like ours. The requirement for
yield history and cost justification just do not align with the
realities of a small farm growing specialty crops. As I have
already alluded to, insurance is just one form of risk
mitigation. The diversification in production that we do at Mud
Creek Farm, that is our greatest risk mitigation technique.
As the Committee considers risk mitigation, I would
encourage you to think beyond the scope of just insurance. The
scope of solutions needs to include programs that enable
capital deployment to accomplish diversification. The EQIP
grant program, for example, can be leveraged to accomplish not
only conservation goals but also diversification of farm
activities.
Capital resources that enable investments that diversify a
farm's operations would help farms like ours to increase
production without risk of loss.
Again, thank you for the opportunity today to represent our
farm and farms like us, and I look forward to the discussion.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Carter can be found on page
31 in the appendix.]
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Mr. Carter.
Mr. Wingard, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF CHARLES A. WINGARD, VICE PRESIDENT, FIELD
OPERATIONS, WALTER P. RAWL AND SONS, PELION, SC
Mr. Wingard. Thank you, Chairman Fetterman, Ranking Member
Braun, and members of the Subcommittee.
My name is Charles Wingard. I am Vice President of Field
Operations at WP Rawl in Pelion, South Carolina. This is my
family's fresh vegetable operation, and we specialize in
southern leafy greens, green onions and leeks, leafy herbs such
as cilantro and parsley, and sweet corn. We are based in South
Carolina. We have a market footprint of about 30 States, and we
have field operations in Florida, Pennsylvania, and Michigan. I
am here speaking on behalf of myself and International Fresh
Produce Association.
Thank you for your support of specialty crops title in the
farm bill. Our industry represents 44 percent of total U.S.
farm crop income. However, our support in the current farm bill
is only $2.1 billion, or another way of putting it is 3.5
percent of the total crop expenditures in the farm bill. USDA
says we should make half of our plate fruits and vegetables.
The farm bill is woefully short in that.
This Committee and Subcommittee showed great leadership 15
years ago when this title was introduced. It was developed to
support industry much more so than any direct payments to
producers. This ensures that the American consumer is the
ultimate beneficiary of good public policy, and to date, by
nearly all accounts, this title has been very successful, due
to Senator Stabenow and Senator Roberts' leadership in buying
into this vision 15, 18 years ago.
That was a great step forward then, but there is more that
needs to be done now. First, we oppose any attempt to change
the definition of specialty crops as outlined in the Specialty
Crop Competitiveness Act of 2004. This definition includes
fruits, vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruit, and nursery crops.
Maintaining this definition is essential for consistency and to
ensure that the unique needs of specialty crops are addressed.
Second, as you well know, a large portion of the U.S.
population is overweight and exhibit poor dietary habits. I
encourage you to find ways to make fresh fruits and vegetables
more available to SNAP recipients and to expand the fresh fruit
and vegetable snack program offered to school children that
need it the most.
Third, I encourage you to expand the Specialty Crop Block
Grant Program to at least $100 million annually. This program
has been very effective at delivering research funding to the
areas that need it the most, by the people who know it the
best.
The Specialty Crop Research Initiative is another very
successful program for our industry. A great example is the
Eastern Broccoli Research Project. It was led by Cornell
University, and the goal was to develop a broccoli variety that
was suitable to the Eastern U.S. climate. It was deemed
necessary due to climate change in the Southwest U.S. and
consumers' demands to buy fresh fruits and vegetables with less
food miles. Both of these reasons are important to help
mitigate climate change. Initial collaborators included
researchers in Maine, New York, Georgia, South Carolina,
Florida, Virginia, Tennessee, Oregon, along with the USDA and
four seed companies and seven fresh vegetable operations. I am
proud to say that I was one of the seven.
The investment is about $10 million, and today a new
variety with great promise is being released for commercial
producers to trial in their operations. This promises to be a
huge return on investment for the U.S. taxpayer.
Currently, there are 26 Specialty Crop Research Initiatives
underway at 14 land grant universities, another good example of
good government by utilizing the existing infrastructure and
supporting those researchers that know the issues well. For
example, Michigan State is leading multi-State research in
extension efforts to develop modern pollination decisionmaking
tools for blueberry growers. Penn State is still working to
slow the spread of the spotted lanternfly and to educate the
public in that region about the detection of the lanternfly and
looking for control measures and looking for natural predators.
Back home, Clemson and N.C. State are developing tools to
assist growers with identifying, preventing, and managing the
guava root-knot nematode, a new invasive species to us.
Very few, if any, of these 26 initiatives would have begun
without public support through the Specialty Crops Research
Initiatives. These issues are simply too small to attract any
private research funding.
On a personal note, I produce about 700 acres of green
onions on sandy soils, and there is only one herbicide labeled
for use at planting, and it is being deregistered as we speak.
My operation has invested in fixed assets to increase
production while losing the only tool for preemergent weed
control that we have. I know that there are options that appear
to be viable without compromising consumer safety, but none are
labeled. Green onion production today is dominated by Mexican
suppliers against whom we have a tremendous freight advantage
on the East Coast.
However, if this ongoing dispute between the EPA and the
herbicide manufacturer continues, then more of our Nation's
green onion supply will be pushed offshore. This is an example
of how we need Title 10 to have the tools to be able to
expedite research and decisions. In other words, we need to cut
through the red tape.
In closing, I want to thank you for the opportunity to
share my thoughts and these recommendations that are crucial to
the growth, sustainability, and competitiveness of the
specialty crop industry and of my operation. I ask that you
consider these priorities and allocate the necessary resources
to support the diverse needs of our sector so that U.S. growers
can prosper and share that health and prosperity with American
consumers and the economy.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Wingard can be found on page
35 in the appendix.]
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Mr. Wingard.
Dr. Worthington, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF MARGARET LEIGH WORTHINGTON, Ph.D., ASSOCIATE
PROFESSOR, HORTICULTURE, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS SYSTEM DIVISION
OF AGRICULTURE, FAYETTEVILLE, AR
Dr. Worthington. Thank you. Good morning, Chairman
Fetterman, Ranking Member Braun, Ranking Member Boozman, and
members of the Subcommittee.
I am Dr. Margaret Worthington. I am an Associate Professor
of Horticulture and Director of the Fruit Breeding Program at
the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Today I am speaking on behalf of the American Seed Trade
Association.
The U.S. has a long history and tradition of
entrepreneurship, founded on successful systems of technology
transfer from the public sector to the private sector. Public-
private partnerships are essential in deploying the strength of
both sectors to develop better-improved varieties and bring
them to the marketplace. This is especially true for low-
acreage, high-value specialty crops.
Universities and companies are both using gene editing
tools in research projects across plant species for a range of
needed applications benefiting farmers, consumers, and the
environment. These include disease resistance, drought
tolerance, nutritional benefits, better taste, and food safety.
Importantly, this research includes critical application in
small acreage, high-value specialty crops. These crops face
unique challenges, and in the past they have not been able to
take advantage and benefit from modern breeding tools due to
high costs and associated regulatory burdens.
Many countries have recently put forth policies that exempt
or exclude products produced through gene editing from
additional regulations, with clear and efficient implementation
of these policies. However, differences in key elements of
these policies means that the overall utility for plant
breeding innovation varies greatly across the world. For
example, EPA's recent final rule on plant-incorporated
protectants, which was published just less than two weeks ago,
is causing a great deal of concern in the plant breeding
community.
EPA's updated policy is intended to address new and
evolving breeding methods like gene editing. The goal is to
establish new ``derived from sexually compatible plant''-based
exemptions for certain plant incorporated protectants that are
introduced using tools like gene editing and result in plant
characteristics that have already been created using
conventional breeding. However, contrary to the EPA's approach
to similar products developed using conventional breeding, the
rule adds bureaucratic layers of red tape for products
developed using gene editing. This is true even though the
agency views those products as having no additional safety
risks compared to those used with conventional breeding.
At the domestic level, the EPA rule runs counter to
interagency alignment under the U.S.-coordinated framework. The
rule is at odds with regulatory streamlining enabled and
envisioned under USDA's recent revisions to Part 340
regulations. Internationally, the rule is out of step with a
growing list of international regulatory authorities that have
used scienced-based rationale to streamline their policies and
support commercialization of innovative products. Instead of
being a leader in innovation, the U.S. is now at risk of losing
out. Our farmers could lag behind in access to latest improved
varieties compared to their counterparts in the rest of the
world.
These added and unnecessary regulatory burdens will
increase the cost and time of getting new, improved varieties
into the hands of our farmers. Especially I want to highlight
many public sector breeders and small and medium-sized
enterprises, and especially those working in most small acreage
specialty crops, will not be able to afford the additional
cost. All of this is going to force additional consolidation in
the industry. Investment in future innovation, especially in
gene editing, will be limited to a handful of very high-acreage
crops and a handful of large companies.
Now seed innovation is, of course, not limited to plant
breeding. Modern tools like biostimulants also offer tremendous
promise to help mitigate and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,
conserve and replenish soil health, and improve water quality.
To fully realize their value it is important that the farm bill
sets a clear Federal definition as is called for in the Plant
Biostimulant Act, which was recently introduced in the Senate
and the House. Special thanks to Senator Braun for leading and
to Senator Grassley for co-sponsoring that key legislation.
Finally, when it comes to research, strong investments from
discovery through development lead to better varieties, and
this means better outcomes, both short-and long-term, for
farmers, consumers, and the environment. Robust farm bill
funding for primary USDA research is essential and desperately
needed to continue supporting the work of programs like the
National Plant Germplasm System, the National Clean Plant
Network, and the Specialty Crops Research Initiative.
Thanks again for the opportunity to provide testimony on
behalf of the seed industry and the plant breeding community.
We look forward to serving as a resource in important
discussions related to the farm bill as they continue, and
breeding and seed innovation, in general.
I will be happy to answer any questions you have.
[The prepared statement of Dr. Worthington can be found on
page 40 in the appendix.]
Senator Fetterman. Thank you, Dr. Worthington.
Ms. Kobus, you are now recognized for five minutes.
STATEMENT OF DIANA KOBUS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PCO CERTIFIED
ORGANIC, SPRING MILLS, PA
Ms. Kobus. Thank you, Subcommittee Chair Senator Fetterman
for the invitation, Ranking Member Senator Braun, distinguished
Committee members, and the staff who make this time possible.
It is an honor to report to you today on how the farm bill
can better serve organic specialty crop producers, especially
through the certification process. I am proud to represent
Pennsylvania, a State that enjoys supporting for organic from
the highest level. It is third in the Nation in organic sales
and is the only State with our own farm bill. It is my deepest
hope that this is the beginning of many conversations we will
have about organic farming and the good these farmers are
bringing to all of us.
This dedicated group of specialty crop farmers and
operations, and the research and infrastructure communities
that serve them, bear a great regulatory burden for voluntarily
choosing to utilize ecologically sound practices. Their work
serves as a lesson for all of us. They function with, and as
part, of nature. It is not an overstatement to say that their
work is one of few things we can depend on to ensure the health
and future of humanity, as we all continue to experience the
increasing effects of excessive extraction from nature, for the
economic benefits of a few.
These farmers know that fundamentally, you cannot have
unlimited growth in a system with finite resources without
creating harm. Day in and day out they do the hard work it
takes to have a food supply that supports healthy people, a
healthy business, and a healthy community. To invest in their
work and the cost of organic certification is to invest in all
of our futures. They provide the solid foundation of a
resilient supply chain, economic regrowth in support of
community well-being, and services that can ease the many cost
burdens of healthcare, energy, and environmental remediation.
We get their feedback every day, and they need more support.
The farm bill can better serve these organic producers
through additional funding and making current programs
permanently funded. A crucial step is to unify and streamline
programs to help producers find, understand, and follow through
with accessing them without redundant paperwork requirements.
Requests for additional program support fall into three
categories. One, health benefits. Organic practices bring many
health benefits which are further detailed in the written
testimony. Achieving them requires transition incentives for
small farm certification, including direct payments to farmers;
more funding for the National Organic Program to work with
certifiers, making the certification process more uniform; and
including automatic access to programs for farmers; more
funding for research that will encourage land grant
universities to take on this work and compete with funding from
chemical and pharmaceutical companies; making funds for the top
regional centers permanent, and coordinating the Organic
Transition Initiative efforts with the newly announced Regional
Food Centers, streamlining delivery of technical assistance,
training, and market and work force development.
Economic benefits. The Organic Hot Spot research from the
Organic Trade Association and Penn State shows us that organic
farming does not, as a rule, occur in wealthy communities, but
it creates more wealth in communities. To support regrowth of
these local strong communities, organic farmers need changes to
crop insurance; equitable access to land for beginning and
BIPOC farmers, and therefore production and distribution of
food; new and better-connected infrastructure, including
organic processing and distribution facilities, and coordinated
market development.
Three, ecosystem services. Again, more details are given in
the written testimony, but we need recognition and compensation
for ecosystem services that these producers are providing,
including automatic qualification as certified organic
operations for any climate-smart benefits. We should also make
every possible effort to fund and connect the work of
indigenous communities with our efforts, since theirs are the
original climate-smart practices, and we have much to learn
from them.
In conclusion, the organic specialty crop community has an
outsized regulatory burden for doing right by us all. They also
have seemingly endless reserves of strength to accomplish the
most sacred of tasks--figuring out how we can better nourish
one another. Organic certification costs are only going to rise
as this sector grows and the need for oversight increases with
it. When we attempt to make organic food cheaper, we are
approaching the problem from the wrong direction. We must
recognize the true cost of healthy food production as well as
the many externalized costs of conventional production
practices and invest accordingly via the farm bill.
Investing in organic research programs at the Agricultural
Research Service and National Institute for Food and
Agriculture will help farmers comply with organic regulations
and thrive in the growing organic marketplace. This investment
will result in healthier people, more resilient local
economies, sustainable job creation, and stronger communities.
I look forward to any opportunity to talk further with your
offices on these issues. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Kobus can be found on page
46 in the appendix.]
Senator Fetterman. Thank you all now. We will now begin our
five-minute rounds of questions for each member, and I am going
to begin and start for myself. To everyone that I am going to
be asking the questions, please recognize that I only have five
minutes and I would like to get to three different questions,
so here we go.
Mr. Alonzo, as Pennsylvania's lieutenant Governor I became
very familiar with the commonwealth's robust mushroom industry.
Of course, it is called the ``Mushroom Capital of the World,''
right?
Mr. Alonzo. Yes.
Senator Fetterman. Yes. It is remarkable when you realize
that it is about 60 percent comes from that part in
Pennsylvania. I know there are very specific, in particular,
challenges that you face. As we consider this year's farm bill
an insurance for specialty crops, what would you like us to
know about unique risks that are associated with mushroom
production?
Mr. Alonzo. We grow indoors, although most of the process
starts outdoors. We have all of our byproducts. The compost we
make is great nutrition for the mushrooms, but that means other
funguses, other pathogens want to get to that food as well. We
are unique in that we need some attention for that crop where
we could have a huge disaster by being so specific in what we
do. We are unique to any other crop because mushrooms do not
need sunlight. That, along with, you know, the fact that other
pathogens really want to get in there.
Senator Fetterman. Yes. I am going to ask a question that
is kind of like a little off it. I have been an advocate of
psychedelics in terms of the magic mushrooms for PTSD and for
veterans, especially. I always thought it could be--and maybe I
am wrong--an amazing economic kind of boom for the mushroom,
for the producer now, and I think it could be a revolution in
mental health. Are you open to thinking of that, or this
something that would be like, no, no, no?
Mr. Alonzo. We are absolutely open. We are entrepreneurs.
More importantly, we are trying to create healthy food for the
community, for the U.S. When we look at it, mushroom mycelium
goes into products like furniture and soaking up oil. The
nutrition side of mushrooms, we got to research through USDA
with the Mushroom Council. Anything that ties in--health
benefits, medical benefits--we are open to looking at.
Obviously, you have to do it within parameters of being secure,
safe, and responsible, but we are open to it.
Senator Fetterman. I think we should have more research and
microdosing and other issues, I think, is essential, but thank
you for that.
Moving over to Ms. Kobus, you know, certifying agents are
leaders in implementing the USDA organic standards, and I know
how crucial it is that standards are for certified organic
producers. How can the USDA be more ensuring that the organic
regulations are uniformly and consistently applied?
Ms. Kobus. The USDA can take ownership of developing a
program and certifying all organic inspectors under a standard
such as ISO 17024, very similar to the program for food safety
auditors and the need that arose in that industry. Organic is
an industry that has really grown up now, and we need to
professionalize some of these careers in order to maintain and
grow the industry.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. Dr. Worthington, I am
interested in your research as it relates to a specific issue
in Pennsylvania, the spotted lanternfly. I relish stomping on
them, personally. They have a satisfying crunch when they go.
Anecdotally, they seem like they really are starting to spread
even more and more in Pennsylvania. A couple of years ago I
never would have seen one in western Pennsylvania, and now I
see them much more so, just a few years later.
Do you have any technologies that you discussed in your
opening statement protecting crops from this and other pests?
Do you have any more advice, any kinds of things about it?
Dr. Worthington. Well, I, in Arkansas, have not had the
opportunity to crunch a spotted lanternfly yet because we do
not have them yet in our State. I am aware that they are a
major problem, especially in the Northeast U.S., and they are
growing in their range, and they affect a wide range of
specialty crops, many of which I work on, including grapes and
peaches. It is something that I have got my eye on, for sure.
I think any approach to managing spotted lanternfly is
going to be really interdisciplinary. I imagine you will see
proposals coming through the Specialty Crops Research
Initiative to tackle this pest.
I am not aware of any specific insect resistant genes that
could be deployed right now for resistance to spotted
lanternfly. However, I think it is important to make it
possible to create these technologies in a fast way. You know,
if we found it in a wild relative now, an insect-resistant gene
for spotted lanternfly, it could take us 20 to 80 years to get
it into a leaf plant material, and it could be done much, much
faster using precise tools like gene editing.
I encourage the Committee to consider making science-based
regulations that would enable us to tackle these problems
quickly.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. I now recognize Senator
Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. By the way, I share
your passion for mushrooms. I, along with maybe Senator
Heinrich----
Senator Boozman. The psychedelic type?
Senator Braun. Maybe not the psychedelic type. I pursue
morels, chanterelles, oyster shell mushrooms, hen of the woods,
chicken of the woods. The variety of mushrooms that are out in
the wild is amazing.
Real quick question. Has there been any attempt to
cultivate them? Because I know they go for about $50 a pound.
Mr. Alonzo. We have tried to cultivate every single
variety, and the ones you see in the grocery store are the ones
we have been successful at. That does not come from a lack of
effort. We have been able to do truffle, for example, but not
in a way that we can actually stay in business. We keep trying,
and research will help.
Senator Braun. Well, the amazing figure of how many pounds
you can do per acre, and when I know what they go for in the
marketplace----
Mr. Alonzo. We would flood the market.
Senator Braun [continuing]. it sounds like it would take
farming to the next level.
A question is going to be for Dr. Worthington and Mr.
Carter. I introduce the Plant Biostimulant Act with Senator--
and it is bicameral and bipartisan as well. This bill would
build on a USDA report from 2018 to help bring biostimulants to
the marketplace. The products have several potential benefits
including increased tolerance of abiotic stress, decreased
nutrient runoff, improved quality and yield. It just looks like
a host of benefits.
Mr. Carter, would you weigh in on how, as a specialty crop
producer, they would benefit maybe you and others that are in
your particular business?
Mr. Carter. Absolutely. Thank you for your work on that.
Biostimulants, as you said, would have a large impact for
specialty crop producers. I can give you one example. We grow a
lot of sweet corn. It is a huge consumer of nitrogen. The
availability of nitrogen in the soil does not always translate
to the amount that can be taken out because of the biomes going
on in the soil and some of the chemistry taking place there,
which I will let Dr. Worthington explain more because she
probably is more qualified.
I know Mud Creek Farm is so named because we are bordered
by Mud Creek, which is an important watershed in our community,
so nitrogen runoff is something that we have to take very
seriously. Similarly, specialty crop producers, tomatoes are
continually seeing more and more impact of something called the
blossom end rot, which has to do with calcium uptake.
Increasing the soil biome is key. We handle that on our
farm. We shovel a lot of stimulant out of the chicken barn, and
that has increased the soil biome quite a bit. I support the
work for biostimulants as well.
Senator Braun. Thank you. Dr. Worthington, about a minute.
Weigh in on the scientific side.
Dr. Worthington. Well, I do not work on plant biostimulants
directly, but my understanding is they could be anything from
microbial agents like mycorrhiza bacteria, algal extracts,
organic acids, amino acids, or purified molecules like chitin.
It is really important to regulate them and have a clear
definition to be able to make sensible regulations. I know a
lot of countries around the world have come up with clear
definitions and have had new regulations passed that have
enabled more research and development and commercialization of
these products, making sure that they are effective and helpful
for consumers.
Senator Braun. Thank you. Mr. Carter, you have been at the
leading edge of specialty crops, being an entrepreneur out of
the gate. I think that is always an interesting combination
when you are so passionate about something you parlay it into
something where you can grow a business. You have been at it.
You have talked to other farmers. What are the three or four
issues, because when we look at sustainability in agriculture,
and we talk about what you can do with mushrooms on one acre,
it is many times less resource intensive, a lot more income per
acre? What are the three or four issues you hear most that keep
this niche from becoming larger and more impactful?
Mr. Carter. Thank you. One of the first ones that comes to
mind has been regulatory hurdles for small producers to find
market access. That is one thing I mentioned earlier in the
work that we did in Indiana. One of the things I am engaged in
quite a bit in Indiana happens to be interfacing between local
health departments. The people that are responsible at the
ground level of enforcing regulation often do not have the
training, understanding, legal mindset that went into writing
it. They overreach, and they create more burden than even as in
the code itself.
Second is access to processing. We lack a lot of value-
added processing in Indiana on the meat side as well as on the
produce side, which could create more market access. When we
think about funding, we think about incentives, we should look
at bringing processing back into some of the local communities.
Senator Braun. Thank you.
Senator Fetterman. I now recognize Senator Booker.
Senator Booker. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I just
have to jump in on the mushroom bandwagon here, of all
different types of mushrooms, I agree, but the data on
psychedelics is extraordinary in terms of helping our veterans
with PTSD, the ongoing research done at Hopkins and Columbia. I
think it is something that we, as a Nation, need to start
looking at, especially if we are trying to help a lot of folks
who are coming home, hurt and harmed. I think it is a great
specialty crop perhaps, and opportunity. I will jump off of
that before my staff gets mad at me that I am off script.
Look, the title of the hearing is how the farm bill works
for specialty crop producers. Unfortunately, it does not work
well. It really does not. We are a nation, that you so rightly
said, that our Federal dietary requirements say 50 percent of
our diet should be specialty crops, but less than 10 percent of
the farm ag subsidies go to farmers who grow fruits and
vegetables. It is a stunning reality. If you are a small farmer
growing specialty crops, the farm bill does even less to really
help you. It is a stunning reality.
In fact, 93 percent of small farmers do not get crop
insurance. Only seven percent take advantage of it. This is
really stunning, especially when the majority of our farmers in
America are small farmers. What they do for our local food
systems, what they do for rural communities, the added benefit
that our small family farmers are doing in America are
incredible. We are a government that has really established
help and support for large commodity crops and making it very
hard for the food that we eat, as a country, to be produced.
Really quickly, Ms. Kobus, as you know, many organic
farmers operate these small acreage farms. Yesterday I
introduced a bill to establish an Office of Small Farms at
USDA, which would directly serve small farmers with microgrants
and technical assistance and would do a review of all USDA
programs to make sure that they are accessible and beneficial
to these small farmers. Can you explain really quickly the
impact this type of USDA office would have for the farmers that
you work with?
Ms. Kobus. Absolutely. It would have huge impact. I support
that idea 100 percent. It would give them a voice and get them
a short way to reach help and reach assistance with the
programs that are out there. A lot of the programs are not
being taken advantage of because when you run a small farm, you
know, farmers want to farm. They do not want to do paperwork,
not to mention redundant paperwork. It would be huge in giving
them the support they need to walk through what actually can
help their farm and get it moving.
Senator Booker. Yes. The bureaucracy that a small farmer
has to go through, who is not equipped to do it, is stunning.
One of the things, when I visited with farmers, organic farmers
around New Jersey, I just did not know the whole crop insurance
system is not built for small farmers. The people who do this
get commissions that are based on the size of the insurance
policy premium. It is kind of a warped, in my opinion,
incentive. These incentives focus agents on writing policies
with the big farms and disincentivize them from helping the
majority of the farmers in America who are small farmers.
I believe in this farm bill we need to change this
structure so crop insurance agents' commissions are based on
the complexity of the policy, not the policy size, which would
incentivize the agents to write a lot more crop insurance
policies for small specialty crops.
Would this type of change be beneficial to the organic
farmers that you work with?
Ms. Kobus. Yes, absolutely. Additionally, technical
assistance to educate those insurance agents would be
additionally helpful, and data collection about the value of
these specialty crops, if we could get the land grant
institutions compiling research on the value it would
definitely help with the crop insurance issue.
Senator Booker. I really appreciate that. Then just last,
Mr. Carter, you state in your testimony that USDA should use
its purchasing power within the fresh fruits and vegetables
program to buy locally grown fruits and vegetables. We have
incredible power within the Federal Government, but we are not
using it to help to sustain, again, the food that America eats,
not the ones that we put into the larger global commodities
market or put into feed. This is folks who are growing the
foods, that are keeping America healthy at a time that, again,
Mr. Wingard, you pointed out. We are a nation that is exploding
in diet-related diseases caused by these hyper-processed foods.
It is stunning to me the cost taxpayers are paying right now.
About 1 out of every 3 dollars that our Federal Government
spends is being spent on health care. The overall majority of
that is for preventable diet-related diseases.
Can you just talk about the impact it would have on local
food systems, on local communities, on rural communities, on
farms like yours if the USDA substantially scaled up local
procurement?
Mr. Carter. Yes. Thank you. Like I said, the schools are
embedded in the communities where the food is grown, and like I
mentioned, it is highly seasonal. We could scale up our
production if we knew that there was an access to sell surplus.
I would put substantially more tomatoes in, cucumbers, and the
like if I knew that as I had surplus, as I had more supply than
my own small retail stand could move, that there was an
institutional buyer ready, and incentivized, to take that crop.
Senator Booker. Mr. Wingard, last--and I know I said two
``lastlys''--but the programs like SNAP you mentioned, I have
seen the incredible success of the GusNIP program, for example,
drawing people toward local farming systems. It is an
incredible purchasing power that we are using. Unfortunately,
what I see often SNAP dollars used for without those incentives
is the very foods that often lead us to explosions of diabetes,
explosions of diet-related diseases.
Is that a way by trying to do incentives within our
existing programs like GusNIP to get more of that governmental
purchasing power toward supporting those who produce healthy
foods?
Mr. Wingard. Yes, sir, and you have got to realize, people
that are on SNAP are the people who need it, and they do not
have a lot of purchasing power when they go into the grocery
story. Our crops a lot of times are the more expensive crop or
the more expensive products in the store, so they are going to
feed more mouths with less money by buying those items than
buying our items.
Any kind of way we can get those SNAP recipients
incentivized to buy fresh fruits and vegetables will be good
because it will start that transition in their lives to a
healthier diet, to a healthier lifestyle, and less medical
costs down the road. The fresh fruit and vegetable SNAP program
is a great, great example of this.
Senator Booker. Mr. Wingard, you are a kind, gentle man. I
am going to be your anger translator here for a second. It is
not only the free market that is making organic foods more
expensive. When my kids walk into a bodega, they are paying
less for a Twinkie product than an apple because we subsidize
everything in the Twinkie and not the fresh fruits or
vegetables. It is not like you are working in a free market.
You are working in a market that is stacked against the crop
commodities and the crops you are growing.
I will be your anger translator any time you want, sir.
Mr. Wingard. Based on what you just said, and I heard the
argument awhile back, we have subsidized obesity.
Senator Booker. Yes, we have, and not just obesity. We pay
twice. We subsidize the things that make us obese, and then we
subsidize the Medicaid and Medicare that treats everybody. We
are a government that is digging a deeper and deeper hole, that
is not only racking up costs--if you look at the Medicare and
Medicaid costs over 20 years projected, we will not be able to
afford anything in government. We are not only digging a deeper
and deeper hole, but we are also adding to sickness and misery
in our society. It is ridiculous.
All right. Mr. Chairman, thank you.
Senator Fetterman. Quite reasonable, Senator Booker. And
now I am pleased to introduce our Chairwoman, Senator Stabenow.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Well, thank you. I think Senator
Boozman was up next. I do not want to--Senator Boozman, were
you up next?
Senator Boozman. I think it was Senator Tuberville.
Senator Tuberville. Well, I am learning a lot about
mushrooms--
Chairwoman Stabenow. Oh, good.
[Laughter.]
Chairwoman Stabenow. This is good. We grow those too. Well,
and I apologize for coming in late. Thank you.
Senator Fetterman. You should go next.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Yes. Thank you. I just actually came
from the Senate Budget Committee that was also focused on
agriculture and the costs of the climate crisis, and we had
really great farmers there testifying about crop insurance, the
importance of crop insurance, and the importance of
conservation and the efforts that they feel are helping them
mitigate the risk. It was a very interesting panel.
I want to thank you and Senator Braun for holding this
meeting, and we are an incredibly diverse State in Michigan in
terms of agriculturally. We are second only to California in
the number of different kinds of crops that we grow. Even
though dairy is No. 1, the bulk of what we do is specialty
crops. I appreciate all of your apples and asparagus and
blueberries, and our world-famous tart cherries. You name it,
farmers in Michigan grow it.
Supporting specialty crop growers has been a priority of
mine since, frankly--I was in the U.S. House, working on the
Agriculture Committee, and then was able to get the first-ever
horticulture title to the 2008 Farm Bill. Mr. Chairman, at the
time they said, ``You do not add new titles to the farm bill.
That is not possible.'' Because of an awful lot of hard work of
a lot of people, we defied the odds, and we now have a title
for specialty crops, which are almost half the cash receipts
from the country. It is so important, as Senator Booker was
talking about, in multiple ways, and certainly starting with
our health and well-being. So 15 years later, here we are,
continuing the benefit and more that we can do together, for
sure.
Mr. Wingard, I wanted to start with you. First of all, I
understand that you are now operating in Michigan, so good
choice, before coming before the Committee. This was very good.
Welcome to Michigan. I wondered if you could speak more--you
know, one of the things that we did when we put the
horticulture title in place was to look, with all the diversity
of specialty crops, rather than our row crops and so on, and
the way we were handling support for them, we set up to the
Specialty Crop Block Grant Program. All these years later, the
program has invested about $1 billion in specialty crops. We
certainly have seen this in Michigan, the different grower
groups that have been applying.
How have these sustained investments from Congress directly
benefited specialty crop growers, in your mind, and I welcome
any other thoughts on what else we should be doing.
Mr. Wingard. Well, I am very familiar with the Specialty
Crop Block Grant Program, and I do love Michigan. I am going to
harvest, in one week, my first harvest in Michigan.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Wonderful.
Mr. Wingard. I am in the Athens area, and it has been a
very pleasant experience thus far. Everything looks really good
up there. It looks so good, I am scared of what is coming
around the corner. I am very familiar with the Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program. It is used in all States, South Carolina
for sure. What it does--and I have got some examples here--we
had a leaf blight on mustard and turnip greens about 15, 20
years ago, and a lot of funding came through Specialty Crop
Block Grant Program to work on new varieties for that. Clemson
was the only public university to work on that, and along with
USDA, a tremendous collaboration between those two
organizations. Now we have two varieties of turnip greens.
They started with 1,000 different species of mustard and
turnip greens, collected from around the world. They came to my
farm and planted 750 of them, maybe 10-foot-long rows on about
two acres. It looked like a bunch of weeds to me. They found 1
species out of 1,000 that had resistance. Through traditional
breeding methods it took them about 12, 15 years to get that
resistance into a turnip green and a mustard green that had
desirable qualities for the market. We have two now, Charleston
Southern and Carolina Southern, I think.
A lot of that funding came through the Specialty Crop Block
Grant Program. The overarching thing there is what that block
grant program does is it sends the money from Washington to
State capitals and then lets the State capitals divvy up the
money to the research where it needs to go, because the people
in the State Departments of Agriculture know what the needs
are. They are much closer to the problems, much closer to the
researchers, and the money is better spent doing it that way
than trying to be directed out of Washington to go here, there,
and yonder.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you very much. I agree.
Mr. Carter, I want to talk a little bit about local food
systems. I am a very strong supporter of local food systems.
Your startup, Market Wagon, is working in communities like
Detroit and Grand Rapids to connect Michiganders to local
vendors--I am very excited about that--including many who are
selling, of course, fresh fruits and vegetables.
The COVID-19 pandemic really shook the ag supply chains, as
we all know. How did the pandemic affect demand for locally
produced foods across your network, and how do thriving local
markets like those in Grand Rapids and Detroit help expand
business opportunity for small and diversified farmers?
Mr. Carter. Thank you, Senator. Yes, you are right. The
pandemic had a big impact on our operation, mainly because we
are e-commerce with delivery, so obviously everybody needs to
stay home and take delivery of food. There was a large spike on
the demand side of that marketplace.
On the supply side, which is what we are here to talk
about, the producers, suddenly their restaurants that they sell
to, farmers markets, most of the markets that small producers
can sell in were shut down. The resilience of small,
diversified farms is that they are agile, so they were able to
immediately--and by immediately I mean in a matter of a week--
divert inventory, divert production from what was going into
food service and to farmers markets or other retail to Market
Wagon. We grew 600 percent in four weeks. It was a matter of
scale that can almost break a company. It is only because we
were able to match the supply with the demand as that was
growing, growing broader just in terms of what a marketplace
like this and local foods mean.
You know, the average age of a farmer has gone up by a year
almost every year. If you are a statistician, that is not good
for new people coming into the industry. I am a fourth-
generation farmer, and I would have left the farm. I would have
been a part of that statistic. I was 18. There was no future in
the small farm at that time.
What we are seeing now, through creating market access--
Market Wagon and other similar enterprises--is the ability for
someone in my generation or younger to say, ``Dad's got 2,000
acres of corn and soy,'' or whatever, large-scale ag, ``and
there is not enough income there for me to join that
enterprise. I can take these three over here and I can make
specialty crops and make a living on it.'' And that is amazing.
We are seeing first-generation farmers, we are seeing next-
generation farmers, and we are bringing people into this
industry, creating jobs, creating entrepreneurship, and I am
really excited about that.
Chairwoman Stabenow. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I just wanted to underscore what you just said, because
when we think of markets in the Agriculture Committee,
traditionally over the years we have thought of trade, and
certainly we feed the world, American farmers, and trade is
really important. There are more markets now that we are
talking about, and we have farmers, a lot of younger farmers,
that are making a good living out of local and regional markets
right here. It is exciting because we have got more opportunity
to have money go back to rural towns and be able to strengthen
rural communities by having different kinds of markets, which I
think bodes well.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes
Senator Tuberville.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
You know, being a former college football coach I learn a
lot in these hearings--mushrooms, spotted lanternflies--but
hey, turnip greens are right up my alley, Mr. Wingard, and
collards. You did not bring that up, and I am kind of
disappointed, but that is all right.
You know, in Alabama, my home State, we have 3,500
specialty crop farms and 60,000 acres, and growing, and
hopefully we will continue to grow. Mr. Carter, my concern is
we are losing our generations of farmers. We are selling out
because we cannot make any money. Some can and some cannot. I
think specialty crops are going to be a boon for us, and we
talked about the SNAP program and farmers markets and all those
things, where people can actually make money with what they do.
In this farm bill we have got to prioritize what we are
doing. Safeguards, you know, for the small farmer, not just the
big farmer. We have got to have competitive markets.
Mr. Wingard, I want to ask you about this. In Alabama, we
have 200 farms that utilize H-2A programs, temporary and
seasonal workers, and if we did not have that, they could not
survive. Now we have started this Adverse Effect Wage Rate
program that determines wages for the H-2A, and we are going
up, what, 14 percent this year, and I think it is going to cost
us $8 to $10 million to our farmers. Give me your thoughts on
that.
Mr. Wingard. Okay. Well, first of all it is going to cost
you more than $8 or $10 million.
Senator Tuberville. I am just talking about for our State.
Mr. Wingard. I am talking about for your State too. It will
be a higher cost than that.
Senator Tuberville. Do not hurt my feelings now.
Mr. Wingard. Well, you should know, first of all----
Senator Tuberville. Our farmers listening to this, by the
way.
Mr. Wingard. Collards is my biggest crop. I did not mention
that. I am a Tiger letterman. My blood runs orange. I was on
the football team at Clemson.
Senator Tuberville. Oh, okay.
Mr. Wingard. I was just a water boy.
Senator Tuberville. Well, you took everything from us at
Auburn, you know, the mascot and everything. But go ahead.
Mr. Wingard. Yes, sir. Anyway, the H-2A is a serious
concern to us. It is literally an obstacle. One of the
regulatory burdens you have heard about here today, our H-2A
wage rate in South Carolina is right at $15 an hour. We got the
14 percent pay raise too, and Pennsylvania, I think, is $17,
and Michigan is $17, $18.
We do not know, as producers, how it is set. We do not know
what it is until about maybe the 5th or 10th of December, and
it goes into effect January 1st. If we bring workers in on
November 1st for 10 months, and we sign a contract, everybody
agrees to the contract, and then on January 1st, the wage goes
up, so the contract really does not apply to the wages. It is
becoming a disincentive for farmers to try to do it the right
way as it speaks to labor.
My business model, in my business, labor is about 30, 35
percent of our total expenses, so that 15 percent wage rate we
took in December, 5 percent fell straight to the bottom line.
When you have long-term contracts such as larger growers do,
buyers do not really care about what our wages did or what our
costs did. We agreed to the contract, and they expect us to
deliver at that price. Now we have to cut costs somewhere else.
Senator Tuberville. What is the answer?
Mr. Wingard. The answer is fixing the labor program, fixing
the H-2A, having some serious reforms in the H-2A program.
Senator Tuberville. Has anybody else got a thought on that,
the H-2A? Anybody? Nobody. All right. Thank you very much.
Mr. Carter, the adjusted gross income and other forms of
means testing disproportionately impact specialty crop
producers from participating in certain USDA disaster programs,
like the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance, Tree Assistance
Program (TAP). However, the Emergency Relief Program does not
have a cap on AGI, allowing specialty crop producers
opportunities for large payments to compensate for their
losses.
What are your thoughts on instituting a waiver of the AGI
means test for the NAP and the TAP disaster programs which
operations derive at least 75 percent of their income from
farming and forestry? What impact would that have on family
farms and specialty crop growers?
Mr. Carter. Generally, I think that having the AGI limits
on any of these benefits seems counterproductive. I am not
personally knowledgeable. I do not have any direct experience
in that situation, but it seems that taking the most
profitable, which typically, in a free market enterprise, means
the most successful and the best at what they do, and telling
them that they are not eligible to have risk mitigation does
not stand to reason to me.
Senator Tuberville. Does anybody want to comment? Anybody
else?
Mr. Wingard. I agree with your thoughts, and I think that
the AGI means testing is punishing those who did the best,
those who took the risk, grew, reinvested in their company. I
think the AGI means testing punishes them.
Senator Tuberville. I have got one more question. Mr.
Wingard or Mr. Carter, or anybody, our Southeast fruit and
vegetable growers are impacted by cheap imports from countries
that do not adhere to our Nation's environmental and labor
laws. Neither the USMCA or the International Trade Commission
has resolved these issues. Growers continue to seek Mexican and
South American imports hit grocery stores at the same time as
U.S. harvest, decreasing the price our farmers receive for
their products. Should this be addressed in the farm bill, and
any recommendations? Anybody?
Mr. Wingard. So, Coach, the U.S. domestic producers have
high costs to produce our food because of regulations and high
standards, and those costs are what we invest in our people,
our process, and our facilities, in order to achieve those
standards and to meet the regulations. If the farm bill wants
to address that, and I think that is fine to do, then we need
tools like market development, we need money for research and
technology, we need access to better crop enhancement materials
so we can spend $25 an acre on weed control with an effective
herbicide instead of $225 or $325 an acre using hand-pulling,
we call that pulling.
You know, we need access to robotics. We need research on
robotics, robotic weed control, robotic weeders, robotic
transplanters, which is what we are looking at, and we need
varieties that are improved varieties that have better disease
resistance, drought resistance, pest resistance, and other ways
that can help us offset the cost of our production.
Senator Tuberville. Basically, you need the tools to be
able to compete.
Mr. Wingard. We need more tools in the toolbox, yes, sir,
more plays in the playbook.
Ms. Kobus. The organic demand right now in the United
States far exceeds the supply we are able to put into it
domestically, so we would love to get those farmers a higher
premium for the crops that they are growing by transitioning
them to organic, and that could be a huge boost to those local
communities, and it is a sustainable way to build those
communities. The demand is definitely there.
Senator Tuberville. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Fetterman. The Chair now recognizes Senator
Boozman.
Senator Boozman. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We are not used
to witnesses and Senators trash talking each other during the
hearing.
[Laughter.]
Senator Boozman. Dr. Worthington, thank you for your
testimony and thank you for the work that you are doing on
agriculture biotechnology. Regulatory certainty is of paramount
importance. For decades now, the Federal Government at large
has attempted to harmonize and modernize its biotechnology
approval process which would pull this regulatory system into
the 21st century and provide the transparency and
predictability developers, farmers, and consumers need. These
principles are also a key to American innovation to U.S.
agricultural production and to addressing global environmental
challenges. The list goes on and on. The Department of
Agriculture made great progress in this endeavor and should be
commended.
Unfortunately, last week the EPA released a final rule on
plant-incorporated protectants, commonly known as PIPs, that
does the opposite. This rule will frustrate U.S. innovation,
drive companies to export their staff, investments, and
technologies to our international competitors and create market
barriers that only the largest multinational corporations can
overcome. In short, EPA's PIP rule puts American farmers and
consumers last. More significant, it removes another tool from
the toolbox that specialty crop producers, all producers, so
desperately need.
Dr. Worthington, you work in the field every day. What
impact will EPA's rule on have on U.S. agriculture and U.S.
innovation?
Dr. Worthington. Yes. I think it is going to disincentivize
innovation, and I think it is going to have a disproportionate
impact on specialty crops and on small and medium-sized
enterprises and public sector investment. You know, there has
been so much investment through farm bill-sponsored programs,
in research, and in plant breeding. You know, we find all these
disease resistance genes. We do all this work. What this is
going to do is make it more difficult to commercialize those
products.
I think that ultimately you are going to see more
consolidation in the industry with this regulation, and the
innovation will be on a few large crops, by a few very large
companies, like you have seen with older transgenic
technologies, despite the fact that we are dealing with a very,
very different technology here, with, you know, traits, genes
that are from sexually compatible species that have already
been produced using conventional plant breeding.
I would just advocate for a more product-rather than
process-based regulatory framework. I want to highlight that
the new EPA rule is a setback for interagency alignment. It is
in direct conflict with the USDA's recent revisions to its Part
340 regulations, and it is also out of step with a lot of other
countries, including our No. 1 seed-trading partner, Canada,
which has a very progressive, science-based policy on
regulation of these plant-incorporated protectants that are
existing within sexually compatible species.
Senator Boozman. Good. Thank you very much.
It is interesting, Madam Chair, one of the things that we
have discussed at length, because it has come up through these
subcommittee hearings as we talk to producers, and again, both
of us are out and about the country doing listening sessions,
is the amount of paperwork that you have to endure. It impacts
specialty crops much more than the other commodities, in the
sense that they are used to doing it. You know, they have just
kind of grown up in this.
The other problem is that for conservation programs and
things like that it is easier to get a larger grant than it is
a small grant, you know, where the small grant can make every
bit as much difference in what you are trying to achieve.
You know, the way you can help us is put that at the top of
your list. It is interesting--Several of the witnesses talked
about that already, you know, brought that forward, but this is
something that is not going to cost money. This is going to
save money. This is going to make you so much more productive.
It will level the playing field, okay. If you have a decent
education you ought to be able to fill the form out.
Then the other problem that we have got is not getting it
done in a timely fashion. That is the other problem is us
having to wait on these things.
Thank you for mentioning it, and let's really be unified in
that. That is something that I just do not think there is any
excuse for. You know, those are things that we can fix. We
appreciate your testimony, and we are going to work really hard
to see how we can be helpful in the next farm bill. Like I say,
thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for holding the hearing.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. The Chair now recognizes
Senator Warnock.
Senator Warnock. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I think all might be
aware that Georgia is known as the Peach State, but climate
change is threatening to put our State fruit at serious risk.
This year, Georgia experienced a very mild winter, and then we
got a late freeze, and this combination, kind of a one-two
punch, wreaked havoc on our peaches. Experts from the
University of Georgia estimate that 90 percent of Georgia's
peach crop failed, 90 percent.
Mr. Wingard, I know that South Carolina and some of the
other Southeastern States where you work grow a lot of peaches
and other specialty crops similar to Georgia. Can you describe
how the changing climate has affected production in the
Southeastern United States?
Mr. Wingard. Thank you, Senator. I do not do any peaches. I
am a leafy greens guy. I will tell you what I know, and it is
not much. They are struggling with climate change. They are
struggling with different patterns of weather, and we too have
seen a significant decrease in peaches. I think our number is
in the 60, 70 percent decrease or loss.
I think that can be addressed a little bit through some
research. It is a long process to fix because peach trees are
about three or four years old before you ever pick a peach.
There is a lot of research going on, on peaches. Dr.
Worthington and I were discussing it before the hearing. I
think peaches, and other crops that are affected by climate
change, can be bred to adapt to a new climate.
I spoke earlier in my oral comments about the East Coast
Broccoli Initiative, and that is essentially what that was
about, is to get broccoli varieties bred that are adapted to
the climate in the Eastern U.S. as opposed to the Southwestern
U.S. I think research is the answer to that.
Senator Warnock. We will only see continued climate change.
That is not going away, sadly. It will continue to cause
uncertainty for growers, so research is important. Also as we
get the research we have got to be nimble in our policy
approach, because the research is not going to help us much if
we are not able to apply it to our practices.
In 2021, Georgia produced 130 million pounds of peaches
valued at $85 million. When these crops fail at this large of a
scale that affects the producer, but we need to remember that
the local economy also takes a hit. As we reauthorize the farm
bill, do you or anyone else on the panel that would like to
speak to this, do you agree that our crop insurance programs
need to be updated to better reflect the realities of climate
change and avoid ad hoc disaster programs?
Ms. Kobus. Yes. I think it is really important to recognize
that if we are not talking about the root causes of climate
change, and industrial agriculture being second as the root
cause of climate change, we are doing a disservice to the
discussion here today. Technology is going to help us continue
to adapt, but we can only adapt so far. You know, there is a
thin layer of the atmosphere and a thin layer of the soil that
provides life to us humans on the planet, and we really need to
engage in the practices to mitigate the effects of industrial
agriculture and really transform the food system for all of our
benefit.
Senator Warnock. We need to give our growers the tools in
order to manage the actual risks that they are facing, which
has implications not only for them but for our economy.
When I meet with Georgia growers, one of the issues they
consistently bring up are the lack of options they have for
managing risk, and one program they have come to rely on is the
Tree Assistance Program. TAP allows producers to replant
bushes, trees, or vines that produce an annual crop loss due to
natural disasters. Currently the program does not allow
producers to replace their damaged plants with improved
varieties that are more resilient to disease or environmental
changes and may even provide higher yields.
Mr. Wingard, can you describe the challenges that this
creates for producers, and is this something you think we
should address in the farm bill, or anyone on the panel?
Mr. Wingard. Well, I am not a peach farmer and I do not do
any trees, but I do think it makes sense that if you have trees
or vines or bushes that are damaged and you have more suitable
or improved varieties to replace them with, yes, it makes sense
to replace them, and it makes sense----
Senator Warnock. And not being forced to replant the trees
that you know are not going to work.
Mr. Wingard. That is correct. In my opinion, you should do
it a little bit along the way, so you do not have to wait and
do a large part of it at one time.
Senator Warnock. Thank you. I am out of time, but I look
forward to exploring ways we can make these kinds of technical
changes in the farm bill that will improve the prospects of
growers and our economy. Thanks, Mr. Chair.
Senator Fetterman. The Chair now recognizes the
distinguished gentleman from Vermont.
Senator Welch. I thank the distinguished Chairman from
Pennsylvania and thank our witnesses. We love this Agriculture
Committee. We all want to do the best we can, and you are
really being helpful, and I appreciate it.
Just one observation. I kind of wonder why we use the term
``specialty crops'' when we are really talking about pretty
healthy food, and healthy food is really important. I just want
to thank all of you for that. Mr. Chairman, at some point I
think we might want to consider a new name for ``specialty,''
because this is tremendous.
One of the things that I think we are struggling with here
on this Committee is to actually put more of an emphasis on the
nutritional benefits of this healthy food. In the farm bill in
2018, we authorized $61.5 billion for the commodity crops, and
they are important. When you compare that to $2 million for the
horticultural crops, it would suggest that one element is
getting pretty generous treatment and another element is being
ignored, when, in fact, the contradiction is that all of these
healthy foods are so good for us. I am for having a much
greater emphasis on trying to get these programs more fully
supported.
I will start with you, Ms. Kobus. Just outline what the
benefits of local--I am going to continue using the term
``specialty crops'' but I do not like it, okay--what do they
provide to our communities?
Ms. Kobus. Oh gosh, well, so many things in addition to
that local, sustainable economy, and the healthier food, less
food miles that food is traveling. You know, the bigger a farm
is, the more challenges we face. To transition more small
specialty crop growers to organic, there are definitely
challenges in doing that, but on the other side the health
benefits. We know that it produces healthier food. We know it
produces healthier soil.
Senator Welch. You know, let me go on that point. One of
the extraordinary contributions agriculture has to our
communities is that the farmers are the custodians of the open
landscape. One of the barriers to entry is it is so expensive.
My sense is that for younger farmers, for folks in
underrepresented communities, these smaller farms are an access
point of entry if we can find ways that they can get the
research that should back them up, the markets that they need,
and that they are local.
I introduced the Opportunities in Organic Act that would,
among other things, increase the cost-share payments for some
of our underrepresented groups trying to get into farming. I
will ask you again. Given your experience with the organic
certification process, what do you see as the greatest barriers
of entry to our small and mid-sized agricultural producers to
transition to organic?
Ms. Kobus. Yes. Definitely access to land is a big one, and
those initial costs of certifying land that has not yet been
certified. There are big challenges in that three-year period
where you take an acre from convention land to certified
organic. That act, in particular. It builds on a lot of the
Transition to Organic Partnership Program work that we are
starting out here in the organic community, but it really fills
in the holes for a lot of the practical challenges.
Senator Welch. Thank you. I am going to ask Dr.
Worthington, too, to maybe comment on that. I do want to ask
you about this, but I want to followup at some later time about
your comment about the regulatory process in Canada versus the
U.S. I came in at the tail end of that.
Just the question I asked Ms. Kobus, could you address
that?
Dr. Worthington. Well, I have had a little bit of
experience with the organic industry. I was funded by the
Organic Research and Extension Initiative for my Ph.D. research
that got me here today, I guess. I think her comments are much
better than mine about the barriers to entry for organic
growers. I have not worked in the certification sphere before.
Senator Welch. All right. Okay, thank you. I see that my
time is up, but I want to thank each of you for doing such
important work on behalf of agriculture and the specialty
crops. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Fetterman. Thank you. Sincerely, thank you for
coming and doing all the traveling from a long distance to
share your experiences and expertise today. I sincerely can say
that I learned from you today. The input from experts like you
at these hearings are crucial to the work that we do as we
write the bill. We want to remind that this farm bill is really
all about farmers, all farmers.
We heard a lot today from witnesses of the need to support
specialty crop producers and certified organic produce. As the
farm bill takes shape over the coming weeks and months I will
be working closely with colleagues on both sides of this office
to do just that.
Also thank you again to our witnesses and my colleagues for
being here. I look forward to making this bill work for all
farmers, and you have really enriched the farm bill for coming
today.
The record will remain open for five business days, and now
this hearing is adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:32 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
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A P P E N D I X
June 7, 2023
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