Finding strong support from U.S. fruit and vegetable processors, President Biden issued a “Buy American” executive order Jan. 25 that he said will close some of the loopholes in current federal regulations that give preference for domestic products.
“The United States Government should, whenever possible, procure goods, products, materials, and services from sources that will help American businesses compete in strategic industries and help America’s workers thrive,” Biden said in the executive order.
Rich Hudgins, president and CEO of the California Canning Peach Association, praised Biden’s commitment to the “Buy American” requirement.
“We should not be contracting to spend U.S. taxpayer money to purchase foreign-sourced fruits and vegetables when the American farmer and worker is fighting to survive,” Hudgins said in a news release.
The executive order was welcomed by the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives (NCFC), which said in a news release that the group has “long supported enforcing and strengthening the ‘Buy American’ provisions in programs administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture such as the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.”
“Sourcing non-U.S. foods — even when competitively priced domestic alternatives are available — not only runs counter to the law, but destroys jobs across the value chain, especially in fruit and vegetable processing, which employs over 1.5 million Americans,” Conner, president and CEO of the NCFC, said in the release.
The NCFC said the executive order seeks to close loopholes in how domestic content is measured, to create a new position at the Office of Management and Budget to oversee the issue and to increase oversight of waivers to domestic preference laws.
The release said the group has voiced concerns in recent years over a marked increase in the amount of foreign-produced food served under the school lunch and breakfast programs when comparable American-grown products are readily available and competitively priced.
Conner said there must be follow-through on Biden’s executive order. “The previous administration started by making a similar show of support for these provisions, but failed to put substance and action behind its words,” he said.
“Hopefully, by appointing a new director of Made In America within the White House, this administration will be more active in enforcing existing requirements in the law and in working with Congress to strengthen these provisions.”
The NCFC said recent research has revealed:
- 81% of apple juice served in U.S. schools is imported;
- 50-60% of the fish served in schools are caught by Russian ships and processed in China; and
- 26 states, including the two largest peach-growing states of California and Georgia, serve Chinese canned peaches to students.
“We look forward to working with the new official at OMB providing oversight to these programs to ensure that we see fewer of the examples mentioned above in the future,” Conner said in the release.
The United Fresh Produce Association said in a statement the executive order is mainly about processed fruits and vegetables.
“We appreciate and support the primary concern relates to processed commodities and the use of imported product when it is otherwise available domestically,” United Fresh said in the statement. “That being said, when schools procure fresh fruits and vegetables, they make every effort to purchase domestic when available.”
Domestic fresh produce availability sometimes does not align with the school-year calendar, according to United Fresh.
“In those cases, the Buy American provision has allowed schools to procure products that are not available domestically to ensure students have access to fresh produce year-round,” the statement said.
The United Fresh statement said that one of the hallmark achievements of Tom Vilsack’s time in the Obama administration was expanding access to a wide variety of fresh fruits and vegetables in the National School Lunch Program to align with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“Access to fresh produce year-round is key to that goal and helps build lifetime healthy habits,” United Fresh said.
