Industry advocates highlight infrastructure needs

Details of President Biden’s $2 trillion American Jobs Plan are beginning to surface, even as produce advocates stress industry priorities in any infrastructure legislation.

Funding for water projects for growers in California and other Western states is critical for any bill, said Dennis Nuxoll, vice president of federal government affairs for Western Growers.

“There is a group of us began to organize back in November around the idea that if there was going to be an infrastructure package, water had to be a big part of it,” Nuxoll said.

As an infrastructure public policy issue, water is often ignored, Nuxoll said, compared with projects such as roads and bridges. More than 200 Western U.S. groups have joined together to stress the need for water projects that could help growers.

The coalition said in a March 31 news release that it looks forward to working with the administration and Congress on the larger need for Western water infrastructure, such as above- and below-ground water storage facilities, conveyance and desalination, along with federal financing mechanisms for such water projects.

With Western states facing another drought and their importance in supplying much of the nation’s food supply, the coalition said it is even more critical to recognize the need for rural water infrastructure investments to capture and store water for use when it is needed most.

“To ensure that food can continue to be safely and affordably produced in the West, and that rural communities continue to have access to the water critical to their economies, it is important that water supply investment be included as a necessary component of a national infrastructure package,” California Farm Bureau president Jamie Johansson said in the release. “We will continue to work with Congressional leaders to build on the administration proposal with enhanced funding for water infrastructure.”

Nuxxol said the water infrastructure for the West was built 50 to 100 years ago, when populations were much lower and hydrological conditions were much different.

Growers now need more water storage and infrastructure to convey water.

“When we do this (infrastructure package) we have to reconfigure the current infrastructure system for Western water and we also have to improve water conservation techniques and spend money doing that.”

How the Biden administration plans to pay for the ambitious infrastructure bill is important, said Robert Guenther, senior vice president for public policy for the United Fresh Produce Association

“At some level, the government’s going to have to figure this stuff out, so I think funding mechanisms are going to be important,” Guenther said.

United Fresh also considers water infrastructure important in the Biden plan, in addition to investment in research facilities at agriculture institutions.

“These research facilities are so critical for all of agriculture,” he said.

Guenther said investment in school cafeteria grants also is warranted. The grants help schools buy refrigeration equipment that will help them handle fresh produce.

According to Farm Journal Washington Correspondent Jim Wiesemeyer, highlights of the Biden plan include a list of initiatives, some of which are:

• A $621 billion investment in transportation and resilience, or the construction of infrastructure that can withstand the recent spate of dramatic weather events attributed to climate change;
• $100 billion to build a more resilient electric grid;
• $111 billion investment to rebuild the nation’s water infrastructure;
• $45 billion in the EPA’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act grants and calls for eliminating all lead pipes and service lines — part of about 6 million to 10 million homes nationwide and 400,000 schools and childcare facilities. There are also calls for investing $56 billion in grants and loans to states to modernize aging wastewater system.