Specialty crops are once again getting a special focus in congress with the bipartisan 2024 Congressional Specialty Crops Caucus. Co-chairs include Republicans David Valadao of California and David Rouzer of North Carolina, and Democrats Jim Costa of California and Elisa Slotkin of Michigan. Representative Slotkin, a former national security official, says U.S. specialty crops are vital to the nation.
“So, because I’m a national security person by training, I put those lenses on when I look at my work on the Ag Committee and our work on this caucus,” she said during a call with reporters. “To me, food security is national security. We need to think of it that way. We need to always be able to feed ourselves by ourselves and for me, a big ‘come to Jesus’ moment was during COVID when supply chains were breaking down and shipping was breaking down. We should just always be able to feed ourselves by ourselves.”
Representative Costa says the caucus is important for the industry.
“The caucus is so important not only for healthy eating in America, but it’s also important for our producers. They’ve faced special challenges ranging from natural disasters, climate change, pests, diseases, and complexities related to market access,” Costa said. “These products, if you think about it, with the exception of tree nuts, are highly perishable. They’re highly perishable, and so getting them from the farm to the supermarket to people’s dinner tables is important in the supply chain.”
The caucus will support the interests of specialty crop production by educating about legislative and regulatory policies that benefit the sector and providing opportunities to address challenges specific to the industry. Its primary goal this year is to increase support for specialty crops in the farm bill.
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Sabrina Halvorson
National Correspondent / AgNet Media, Inc.
Sabrina Halvorson is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and public speaker who specializes in agriculture. She primarily reports on legislative issues and hosts The AgNet News Hour and The AgNet Weekly podcast. Sabrina is a native of California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.