U.S. Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) last week convened a discussion with U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Brooke Rollins to hear directly from Central Valley farmers, ranchers, and producers about the issues affecting their operations.
“Agriculture drives the Central Valley’s economy, and I was honored to welcome USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins to Bakersfield for a discussion with local agricultural leaders today,” Rep. Valadao said on May 29. “I appreciate her engagement with our local leaders, and I look forward to continuing to work with USDA on commonsense policies that support Central Valley agriculture and give producers the certainty they need to plan for the future.”
Agricultural leaders from across the region attended the roundtable to discuss industry priorities. They also applauded action by USDA to finalize the Assistance for Specialty Crops Farmers program, which will provide more than $1.6 billion in payments to eligible specialty crop producers to help offset rising input costs and market disruptions — $625 million more than previously announced, according to Rep. Valadao.
“For years, I’ve worked closely with producers across the Valley to address the challenges they face — rising input costs, workforce shortages, burdensome regulations, and the need for a stronger specialty crop safety net — and this conversation reinforced the importance of continued collaboration,” said Rep. Valadao. “As the sole dairy farmer in Congress, I understand these issues firsthand, which is why I was proud to join the secretary as she announced USDA finalized $1.6 billion in assistance for specialty crop growers to help offset high costs and market disruptions.”
The secretary noted that Rep. Valadao was “critical” to helping pass the Working Families Tax Cut Act, which she said is helping more than 63,000 California farms sell more agriculture products than any other state.
Prior to the roundtable, Rep. Valadao and Rollins toured Allied Potato, where they visited the potato fields and observed the processing and packaging operations, the congressman’s staff said.
“Thank you Congressman Valadao, a leader on the House Committee on Agriculture, for hosting an incredible roundtable today at Allied Potato here in your beautiful Bakersfield, Calif. Your extraordinary farmers, ranchers, and dairymen exemplify what it means to feed the country and the world,” Rollins said. “As we announced after the roundtable, we are committed to ensuring the economic strength of our specialty crop operations as we continue opening new markets abroad and strengthening demand domestically for American produce.”
Other roundtable attendees included representatives from the California Farm Bureau, Western Growers, Wonderful Citrus, California Dairies Inc., the Milk Producer’s Council, California Citrus Mutual, Grimmway Farms, the Western Tree Nut Association, Blue Diamond Almonds, the California Fresh Fruit Association, the California Farmworker Foundation, Family Tree Farms, Monte Vista Farming Co., and Cauzza Growers.