New money for Calif in farm bill

New money for Calif in farm bill

	Published : Sat, 28 Jul 2007 00:05 By : Agencies Print this Story

WASHINGTON (AP) - California farmers would see a bonanza of new money in a giant farm bill passed by the House on Friday that for the first time includes significant expenditures for fruit and vegetable growers.

Spending on traditional commodity subsidies, food stamps and other programs in the $286 billion bill still dwarfs money for produce. Nonetheless California growers, the nation's biggest producers of fruits and vegetables, said they'd made historic advances.

'We are extremely ecstatic, even jubilant. As you know our industry has not been a part of the farm bill historically,' said Tom Nassif, president and chief executive of the Western Growers Association, which represents farmers in California and Arizona. 'What we said is that we want our fair share. ... This is a great step in that direction.'

The five-year measure passed on a vote of 231-191. It includes about $1.6 billion to help so-called specialty crops, the terms for fruits, vegetables, nuts and nursery products, in some cases creating new programs. Among the expenditures:

--$350 million for a fruit and vegetable snack program that would allow specialty crop farmers to sell their products for school lunches.

--$365 million for specialty crop competitiveness grants.

--$215 million for a specialty crop research initiative.

--$25 million for dedicated organic research.

--$150 million for an air quality mitigation program that would help farmers in the San Joaquin Valley, one of the nation's most polluted air regions.

--$200 million for pest detection and surveillance.

--$25 million in produce food safety grants.

'California agriculture is finally getting the respect and treatment it deserves,' said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Merced, who chairs an Agriculture Committee subcommittee and helped negotiate the numbers.

Rep. Sam Farr, D-Carmel, cited the $25 million for food safety grants as a potential hedge against scares like the spinach E. coli outbreak on the Central Coast last year.

Sacramento also got a win as Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, helped get the Sacramento River included as one of five priority projects for funding under a new Regional Water Enhancement Program.

Cardoza thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, for her support for programs important to California, but Pelosi had to wrangle the bill to passage over objections from some Democrats and GOP budget hawks who wanted deeper cuts to traditional subsidies for corn, wheat, soybeans, cotton and rice growers.

As passed the legislation aims to ban subsidies to farmers whose income averages more than $1 million a year, down from the current limit of $2.5 million. Still, it includes about $42 billion in subsidies and other help for farmers. An amendment that would have imposed far stricter income limits on farmers while spending more on specialty crop and other programs lost on a lopsided vote.

The bill includes a long-sought deal to require country-of-origin labeling for meats and other foods.

But a tax measure to finance some $4 billion in food stamp and other nutrition programs, which would impose new taxes on certain multinational companies with U.S. subsidiaries, sparked bitter opposition from Republicans.

The final tally was not enough to overcome President Bush's threatened veto, and Senate action is also uncertain.

California's House delegation split nearly along party lines. Nine-term GOP Rep. John Doolittle of Rocklin said it was the first farm bill he'd opposed and that despite his support for specialty crop spending he voted 'no' partly because of the tax provision.