Page 94 - Farm Bill Series_The 7 Things You Should Know

USDA insured 386 policies for watermelons worth $63.7 million of liability. Not surprisingly,
241 farmers claimed their watermelon crops failed and collected $47.8 million. It was a public
relations nightmare and the scheme was widely panned by honest growers and the crop insurance
industry alike.

But as work continued on the farm bill in 2012, the crop insurance industry tried to find ways to
address concerns of the specialty crop industry and win their support. Language was added to the
farm bill to require – before RMA policies are developed – consultation with the industry. The
goal was to prevent anything like the watermelon incident from happening again.

Other farm bill provisions on crop insurance offered more flexibility on “whole farm” insurance
policies, more options for organic producers and proposed a study on food safety insurance.
The coalition between the crop insurance and specialty crop industries was really in its infancy
as the farm bill finally passed in 2014. But crop insurance and commodity organizations joined
forces with a wide variety of fruit and vegetable associations to successfully fend off a proposed
$3 billion in cuts to the crop insurance program in 2016.

“You get a much different response when you go in to talk to members about the importance of
crop insurance with a peach or apple grower alongside than a row crop farmer – particularly in
the coastal states,” observed a crop insurance industry lobbyist.

As the focus turns to the next farm bill, many of these same organizations are looking to bring
even more organizations into their circles of political influence.

Sen. Stabenow has repeatedly underlined the importance of coalition building. After the farm bill
conference committee had finally completed its work and the House was poised to consider a
final farm bill vote in 2014, Stabenow walked over to the lower chamber to watch members vote.

“In the end, we had over 350 conservation organizations that supported the farm bill,
including the National Rifle Association (NRA) which endorsed the effort because of
habitat for hunting,” Stabenow told Agri-Pulse. “I know that there were some Republican
House members who changed their vote because of the NRA.”

Unlike the failed 2013 effort, the House approved the new farm bill, officially known as “The
Agricultural Act of 2014,” by a margin of 251-166 on Jan. 29, 2014.

Stabenow, now the Agriculture Committee’s ranking member, says she knows there was a lot of
concern at the beginning of this coalition, but says “this is very, very important for the future.

“We ended direct payments, we put more money into crop insurance and we have critics out
there now, just gunning for crop insurance.

“Because of this agreement, we were able to push back on some very damaging proposals for
crop insurance,” she explained. “But we wouldn’t have been able to do it without the broad
coalition and understanding that we need to care about large farmers and large pieces of
land as well as small farmers and small pieces of land.

“Adding fruit and vegetable growers builds your coalition …. expanding to organic farmers
builds your coalition …. strengthening whole farm policies for small farmers builds your

92 www.Agri-Pulse.com