Historically, many Florida producers have chosen to base their economic decisions on the market place and have not relied on federal farm price support programs.

However, these commodity markets can be very volatile and the industry faces extreme and somewhat unique pressures including ever increasing environmental challenges, labor and production costs beyond that of our competitors, subsidized foreign market competition and declining access to crop protection tools.

Here are some of the key areas important to Florida agriculture in the farm bill:

Country-of-Origin Labeling – The bill includes mandatory country-of-origin labeling for fruit and vegetables, as well as meat, to become effective in two years. Florida Farm Bureau has been working for years to see a national mandatory labeling program become law. This was a big victory for not only farmers, but consumers as well.

Methyl Bromide – The bill provides language that would allow state, local, and tribal governments to petition USDA for use of methyl bromide for the control of pests, recognizing economic costs and availability of suitable alternatives. The agreement also provides that these governments may petition USDA for the use of transitional products. We are still pursuing an extension of the phase out of methyl bromide.

MAP – The Market Access Program (MAP) is increased from $90 million per year to $200 million to be phased in by 2006. This program has been valuable in marketing Florida fruit and vegetable products to international markets.

Production Efficiency – The bill authorizes research and extension grants for improved harvesting productivity of fruits and vegetables including research on mechanical harvesting.

Invasive Pests and Diseases – The bill has language to allow USDA access to financial resources to combat outbreaks of plant and animal pests and diseases and prevent further spread of infestations from occurring. Current law requires lengthy review by other agencies before funds can be released.

Fruit and Vegetable Government Purchases – The bill allocates $200 million annually for the purchase of fruits and vegetables in government nutrition programs. This program has been extremely useful in incorporating Florida fruit and vegetable products in school lunch and breakfast programs.

Sugar – Removes the penny penalty for commodity forfeitures, eliminates the marketing assessments and reinstates marketing allotments.

Dairy – The bill maintains a permanent $9.90 Milk Price Support Program and establishes a three-year National Dairy Program to provide assistance to all U.S. producers.

Peanuts – The peanut program is drastically changed. The marketing quota system is eliminated and peanuts are treated similarly to “program” crops such as grains and cotton – with identical marketing loan provisions available to all peanut producers. Farmers no longer have to own or rent peanut marketing quota rights to produce for domestic edible consumption.

Compensation is provided to quota holders for elimination of the peanut quota system. All farmers with a history of peanut production during 1998-2001, whether quota-holders or not, are eligible for fixed direct payments and for counter-cyclical payments based on an established target price.

Conservation – Conferees agreed on an overall funding level of $17.1 billion (over 10 years) for conservation programs, reflecting an increase of over 80 percent from current conservation spending levels. Included are:

• Farmland Stewardship Program – The Florida-developed program, sponsored by Rep. Adam Putnam, provides conservation incentives on farms and ranches, and encourages the blending of state and local, and federal conservation initiatives.

• Wetlands Reserve Program – The bill authorized this program at 250,000 acres, funded at $1.5 billion.

• EQIP – The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is a cost share program for conservation measures on working lands. Funding was increased four-fold from its current level to $9 billion over 10 years.

• Water Conservation Program – Provides cost-share incentives and assistance to conserve ground and surface water funded at $600 million over 10 years. This measure will bring needed assistance to growers to meet water resource challenges.