A bipartisan coalition of 30 U.S. House members is urging Agriculture Committee leaders to prioritize federal support and financial resources for specialty crop mechanization research and development in the 2024 farm bill.
Reps. Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif., Max Miller, R-Ohio, and Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., are leading the effort, according to a news release.
In a letter sent last week to Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., and ranking member David Scott, D-Ga., the members assert that innovative technology is more critical than ever to support the competitiveness and longevity of the U.S. specialty crop industry, the release said.
The same four lawmakers introduced legislation last year to establish within the USDA a $20 million-a-year research and development grant program exclusively dedicated to specialty crop mechanization and automation projects.
“Farmworkers in California are using some of the same hand-picking and labor-intensive methods that my dad used when he worked as a farmworker a half-century ago,” Carbajal said in the release. “As someone who worked in the fields in the summers with him, I know the critical difference that investments in agricultural mechanization research and development through this year’s farm bill would make.
“Undertaken in the right way, with guardrails like those included in the bill we introduced last year, breakthroughs in this space will improve the quality of life for our farmworkers, and ensure we have a workforce that is prepared to cultivate the farms of tomorrow,” he added.
California is the nation’s sole producer of many types of specialty crops and grows half of the U.S.-produced fruits, nuts, and vegetables, LaMalfa said.
“Our specialty crop industry is a significant part of our total ag economy, food security, and global export,” he said. “However, the specialty crop industry finds itself at increasing disadvantages from increased input costs, labor shortages, and barriers in utilizing certain federal programs. Bolstering specialty crop mechanization and automation development is essential to the competitiveness and durability of the industry.”
Related: More information on the Advancing Automation Research and Development in Agriculture Act
“We applaud the continued advocacy from Representatives LaMalfa, Carbajal, Miller and Spanberger for increased farm bill support and resources for mechanization and automation technologies in the specialty crop sector,” Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance co-chairs said in a joint statement.
“The shrinking availability and rising cost of labor are major limiting factors for our specialty crop growers. Innovation is needed now more than ever to ensure our farmers, workers and consumers can count on a strong domestic industry now and in the future,” the statement continued “These and other glaring pressures on American specialty crop growers point to the need for Congress to advance a new farm bill sooner rather than later.”
Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance co-chairs are International Fresh Produce Association CEO Cathy Burns, Florida Fruit & Vegetable Association President Mike Joyner, Western Growers President and CEO Dave Puglia and National Potato Council CEO Kam Quarles.
“Labor is one of the biggest limiting factors in American agriculture,” John Walt Boatright, director of government affairs for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said in the release. “In this farm bill, we must invest in new technologies to allow farmers to address labor shortages while ensuring they can continue to grow the wide variety of fruits and vegetables America’s families rely on to stock their pantries.”
