The $1 trillion infrastructure bill making its way through Congress contains several provisions important to agricultural production. The legislation includes significant investment in water infrastructure in the Western United States. President and CEO of Western Growers, Dave Puglia explained that hundreds of industry groups came together to get the issue of water infrastructure elevated to a national level. It took more than three years of work to get Western water issues addressed in a federal infrastructure package.
“We started making noise about this in Washington D.C. because most members of Congress don’t think about the water infrastructure that we have out West when they talk about an infrastructure bill. They think about railroads, and bridges, and things like that,” Puglia noted. “The good news here is that all of that persuasion, and advocacy, and browbeating over the years resulted in over $8 billion in infrastructure dollars for the West. Now the question is, will the Senate and the House match each other and produce a bill that does to the President?”
Listen to the radio report below.
About the Author
