National Potato Council Growers Converge on Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.-
By ANUK Staff
3.4.13
Over 160 potato growers and industry partners from across the country met in Washington, D.C. from Feb. 25-28 to advocate for the industry’s most pressing federal policy priorities.
Grassroots activists met with federal regulators at the USDA and EPA and 129 Senate and House officers on Capitol Hill during the four-day Potato D.C. Fly-In.
The 2013 meeting boasted the widest geographic range in Fly-In history as well as record-breaking attendance. Growers from over 22 states were in attendance, according to a press release.
The 2013 Fly-In also featured a number of high-level political, policy, and industry speakers, including House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Congressman Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), who addressed federal budget challenges and their impact on a new farm bill and other agriculture-related issues.
Former Congressman Tom Davis (R-Va.) offered his analysis of the current state of affairs for the Republican Party and its path forward for the 2014 elections and beyond. Renowned political strategist and commentator Donna Brazile also spoke about how the state of today's politics is impacting the efforts of Congress and the White House to govern our country.
Additional speakers included Dr. Sonny Ramaswamy, director of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (APHIS), U.S. Trade Ambassador Isi Siddiqui, Chuck Conner, president of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, Bill Hoagland, senior vice president of the Bipartisan Policy Center, Nathan Gonzales, deputy editor of The Rothenberg Political Report, and Tom Stenzel, president and CEO of the United Fresh Produce Association.
After two days of policy and political briefings, attendees took to Capitol Hill to lead the industry's advocacy efforts, focusing on four top priorities: preserving funding for specialty crop programs in a new five-year farm bill; reforming the agricultural guest worker program as part of comprehensive immigration reform; gaining Mexico's full market access for U.S. fresh potatoes; and ending the ban on fresh potatoes in the WIC federal supplemental nutrition program.
