WASHINGTON, May 22, 2014 – Senate Agriculture Committee
Chairman Debbie Stabenow,
D-Mich., told organic industry representatives yesterday that coalition
building would be essential to policymaking, warning organic and conventional
proponents alike that they would need to lean across the agriculture aisle to
achieve legislative successes like the last farm bill.
Her goal in finishing the 2014 Farm Bill, Stabenow said at
the Organic
Trade Association (OTA) Policy Conference in Washington, was “to make sure
investment in fastest part of agriculture wouldn’t pit one group against
another… We’re going to support everybody.”
Stabenow recounted the tricky process of passing the
agriculture legislation, which included winning the support of right-leaning
groups like the National Rifle Association
(NRA) with provisions for hunters and left-leaning organizations like the Union of Concerned Scientists with provisions
to research and protect against climate change.
The farm bill is “only bill of mine that will probably be
endorsed” by the NRA, Stabenow joked.
She told the organic industry representatives that they
should expect to continue to build unexpected coalitions.
Referring to her support for organic farm bill programs, Stabenow
told the audience to “continue to count me in.”
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who spoke at the OTA event yesterday, also noted his
support for the organic industry. Organics are a “complement to traditional
agriculture,” he said.
Vilsack urged the organic industry to establish its own
check-off program. The 2014 Farm Bill granted the sector the ability to launch
a research and marketing order separate from those conventional agriculture
producers.
“You should take advantage of it,” Vilsack said.
Vilsack also weighed in on House Appropriations Committee’s proposal
to grant temporary waivers to cash-strapped schools that are finding it
difficult to meet new, healthier school lunch standards.
“It’s outrageous that we’re stepping back from our
commitment [to children],” Vilsack said. Maintaining the school lunch changes,
which involve less full fat, sugar and salt and more fruits, vegetables, low
fat dairy and whole grains, is the “right thing to do,” he said.
#30
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