US Farm Bill more fruit and vegetable friendly ?!?!
SHT article -- Bill lifts state growers' hopes
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"This will be the most significant agriculture policy for what Florida actually grows -- ever," said U.S. Rep. Adam Putnam, the Bartow Republican who is chairman of the House Republican Conference and a member of the committee negotiating the differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill.
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Reading further we see that anything above zero is a good thing but it is still very restrictive read more in the Detroit Free Press
A provision in the new farm bill the House and Senate are set to vote on this week is intended to make it easier for the processors to find farmers willing to grow those crops. The bill would allow 75,000 acres of Midwest cropland that is enrolled in the farm programs to be diverted to production of fruits and vegetables -- but only for processing, not for sale as fresh produce.
Under current law, growers who plant fruits and vegetables on acreage enrolled in the farm program lose all their federal subsidies for the year, even if the vegetables are grown only on a small portion of the farm.
The restriction applies even to sweet corn, which is considered a vegetable, in contrast to field corn, which is a grain used for making ethanol, livestock feed and food ingredients.
I don't have any background in farming but if it says "not for sale as fresh produce" ... I think I know what that means.
