The next Congressional coronavirus aid package could be the last before the November election, and Dennis Nuxoll says it is important to account for the needs of growers in that legislation.
The Packer’s Tom Karst visited on July 1 with Nuxoll, vice president of federal government affairs for Western Growers.
Nuxoll touched on a variety of topics, including the newly minted USMCA, the next coronavirus legislation and what it could offer growers, the Farmers to Families Food Box Program and the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program.
For the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s decision to determine direct payments to growers by commodity was problematic, Nuxoll said.
“We said to USDA very early on that we thought there were going to be too many commodities in our space to try to do a program on a commodity basis,’ he said. Western Growers represents farmers of about 300 crops, he said.
“Having USDA calculate payments crop by crop by crop by crop. that is an arduous process,” he said. Western Growers has submitted comments asking that the program include more commodities.
The April 15 cutoff for the determining market damage also is a problem, Nuxoll said.
“We would like to see additional time periods covered,” he said.
