California Connected Newsroom

While the USDA’s recently unveiled farm bill proposal would cut federal subsidies to some high-earning farmers and “traditional” crops such as rice, wheat, and cotton, California’s farms stand to gain much needed aid from the bill’s provision to spend increased amounts on “specialty crops”, such as fruits and vegetables, which comprise the majority of California’s produce.

California agriculture has had a slew of recent setbacks. The E. Coli outbreak this past fall, traced to spinach produced by several California growers, has caused losses estimated around $100 million according to the Sacramento Bee. Additionally, two weeks of subzero temperatures throughout the Central Valley in January has, according to the California Farm Bureau Federation resulted in “$1.1 billion in crop losses” and thousands of lost jobs throughout the state, prompting the governor to declare a state of emergency in 18 counties.

The proposed bill would benefit California growers who produce “$12 billion of the nation’s $30-billion domestic fruit and vegetable crop” according to the LA Times, by administering $5 billion in funds for fruit and vegetables, and $3.2 billion to buy fresh produce for school lunch programs. At present the state receives a meager 3% of federal funds allotted to farmers each year.

The bill must first be passed by the legislature, where critics representing “traditional” crop growers are expected to put up a fight to keep the subsidies in their states and away from the proposed “specialty crops”.

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