Newhouse leads bipartisan group in support of pandemic relief for wine grape growers

U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Wine Caucus, led 40 lawmakers in calling on the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide America’s wine grape growers with pandemic-relief funding in the next emergency legislative package.

The wine grape growers were excluded from eligibility for the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program (CFAP), which the USDA announced on April 17 to provide financial assistance to producers of agricultural commodities who have suffered a 5 percent or greater price decline during the pandemic, or who had COVID-19-related losses due to market supply chain disruptions and face additional significant marketing costs.

“As internal discussions continue at USDA on the next round of producer relief programs, we urge the inclusion of wine grapes on the list of specialty crops eligible for the CFAP,” wrote Rep. Newhouse in a bipartisan Sept. 8 letter sent to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue. Among the 40 lawmakers who also signed the letter were U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis (R-IL), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Tom Reed (R-NY), Mark Amodei (R-NV), John Katko (R-NY), Dave Joyce (R-OH), and Congressional Wine Caucus co-chair Mike Thompson (D-CA). 

USDA must recognize the widespread and substantial harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on market prices for the nation’s wine grapes, the members wrote. “The cessation of wine sales in multiple market channels has disrupted supply chains and forced wine grape growers to swim against a tide of deteriorating prices,” they wrote, noting that one wine industry analyst estimates revenue losses due to COVID-19 could reach $5.94 billion.

And due to the unique character of the wine grape crop cycle and the processing, marketing and sales of wine, growers and their representative organizations have struggled to quantify a price decline for wine grapes during a January to April timeframe, as dictated currently by CFAP requirements, according to their letter. 

“We believe the Farm Service Agency’s narrow, retrospective timeframe unfairly denies support to a vitally important sector of the agricultural community, one that is responsible for an enormous amount of economic activity,” Rep. Newhouse and his colleagues wrote.