White House discussions encourage produce industry members
A roundtable discussion at the White House April 25 with President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue left Maureen Torrey, co-owner of Torrey Farms, Elba, N.Y., encouraged that the administration will listen to concerns of the fresh produce industry.
Maureen Torrey joined 13 other agriculture leaders as part of a Farmers Roundtable at the White House to discuss improving American agriculture.
“I believe the president appreciates how important agriculture is to the overall well-being of this country,” Torrey said in a news release.
Torrey said in the release that Trump made it clear he expects Perdue to be active in addressing agriculture’s policy priorities.
The roundtable covered administration initiatives on farm labor, regulations, trade and infrastructure, she said in the release.
“It was encouraging to hear him tell Secretary Perdue that, with respect to immigration enforcement, workers who are here and have not caused any problems, but have been productive workers, should not have anything to fear,” Torrey said in the release. “I was also pleased to hear him acknowledge that the current federal ag guest worker program, H-2A, is broken and needs fixing.”
The discussion was followed by the president’s executive order establishing an interagency task force to examine a wide range of issues affecting the quality of life in rural America.
The Task Force on Agriculture and Rural Prosperity will consist of representatives of agencies across the federal government and is required to issue its recommendations within 180 days, according to the release.
“This initiative has got the potential to have a tremendous impact on the ability of fresh fruit and vegetable providers to be in business,” Robert Guenther, United Fresh Produce Association senior vice president for public policy, said in the release. “That’s why United Fresh will be engaging with the task force and other policymakers and officials to ensure the priorities of the fresh produce industry are part of the task force report.”
Perdue will be chairman of the task force, which includes officials from 22 federal agencies, including the U.S. Trade Representative, the Department of Labor, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency and others.
The executive order said the task force should identify policy or regulatory changes that promote agriculture’s growth.
According to the executive order, some of the policy goals of the task force will be to:
- Ensure access to a workforce and increase employment opportunities in agriculture and rural businesses;
- Promote preservation of family farms and other agribusiness operations as they are passed down;
- Promote water users’ private property rights when securing permits to operate on public lands;
- Improve food safety and ensure federal food safety laws are science-based; and
- Encourage the production and export of domestic agricultural products.
