WASHINGTON -- On July 11, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 2642, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, by a vote of 216-208. This bill is a modified version of the Farm Bill that was rejected by the House last month, and includes only the agriculture provisions. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (i.e., food stamps), or SNAP, was removed from the bill for later consideration. Breaking the bill in two represents an historic split in a political coalition that had been in place since the early 1970s. The Farm Bill has traditionally passed by uniting members who represent rural farmers and urban poor who receive funding for nutritional support. Without that broad support the bill’s passage relied completely on Republicans with not a single Democrat voting for the measure.
The American Nursery & Landscape Association and OFA – The Association for Horticultural Professionals are pleased that the specialty crop provisions remain well-supported in this version of the bill. Unlike row crop subsidies, the specialty crop provisions support things like crop research, pest and disease prevention and detection strategies and crop marketing efforts. These provisions include Specialty Crop Block Grants (SCBG), Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI), and the newly created Coordinated Plant Management Program, which is the result of the merging of two previously independent programs – Section 10201 and the National Clean Plant Network.
“ANLA and OFA are concerned that without the inclusion of the SNAP programs, the likelihood of conferencing the House Bill with the more complete Senate Farm Bill remains unclear,” said Joseph Bischoff, ANLA director of government relations. “However, this vote does represent a measure of progress towards the eventual passage of a new Farm Bill into law,” he added.