Western Growers, affiliates call for specific Cares Act spending priorities.

On April 2, the Western Growers - which represents local and regional growers in California, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico - and several of its specialty-crop partner associations sent a joint letter to California Representatives David Nunes and Kevin McCarthy requesting specific agriculture priorities from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) bill's coffers. The action is yet another urgent reminder from the agricultural sector that the industry must be kept afloat during the growing coronavirus crisis.

The communique states, "California’s agriculture industry has continued to work during the Covid-19 pandemic to provide consumers with the safest and freshest produce available. The recently passed CARES Act affords the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) many tools and funding mechanisms, which if utilized correctly, can help the whole of the U.S. agriculture industry traverse these difficult times."

The letter calls for $5 billion dollars to be dedicated to assist the U.S. specialty-crop industry, as well as:

• Direct payments to growers and flexible, inclusive eligibility requirements.
• A food purchase program to procure specialty crop commodities that can be utilized either by school feeding programs or the national food bank matrix.
• Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA) trust claim guarantee from the USDA to prevent bankruptcies

Click here to read the entire letter online.