House creates new sub-committee for organics!

[nosmokes]

well here's some progress. maybe. cordoza says he's shooting for weekly meetings, and that'll be great. we'll see if we can get some teeth put back into the organic label, but more importantly, w/the farm bill being rewritten this year, can some of the billions that are going into the labs for frankenfood research be diverted into programs for small farmers and appropriate technology research?hey, stranger things have happened...-joe
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original-scripps

Cardoza gets chairmanship of Agriculture subcommittee

western news

By MICHAEL DOYLE
Thursday, January 18, 2007

California fruit and vegetable growers have a new go-to guy in Congress with the leadership ascension of Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., who secured chairmanship Wednesday of the newly formed House Horticulture and Organic Agriculture subcommittee.

For Cardoza, it's a new plum: This is his first chairman's gavel since joining the House of Representatives in January 2003.

For growers, it's a new start. Congress is about to rewrite farm policy, and the fruit and vegetable industries crave billions of dollars in additional aid. Cardoza's chairmanship means he will be in the room helping write the final bill.

"It will be a significant role," Cardoza said.

His reach goes farther than the subcommittee's name suggests. It is also a subcommittee tailored to individual interests.

"Having him in that key spot will be crucial," said Jack King, director of national affairs for the California Farm Bureau Federation. "Dennis is a perfect choice, because that will be such an important issue."

The panel will be responsible for honey and honey bees. California ranks second nationwide in honey production behind North Dakota, with some 30 million pounds produced annually.

The panel will handle marketing and promotion orders, a politically sensitive topic. Covering crops ranging from grapes and almonds to citrus and tomatoes, the marketing and promotion orders periodically face legal challenge from farmers unhappy about being forced to pay fees.

California's estimated 2,000 certified organic farms will come under the new panel's authority, as will the roughly 194 million pounds of pesticides applied to the state's crops annually. And, most broadly, the panel will cover fruits and vegetables. This was the biggest selling point for Cardoza.

"Eighty-five percent of what we do in the Central Valley is fruits and vegetables," Cardoza said.

The new House Agriculture Committee chairman, Minnesota Democrat Collin Peterson, is an ally of Cardoza's and a fellow member of the centrist House Blue Dog coalition. Peterson had to work his new committee like a Rubik's cube while aligning Democrats with their panel assignments.

Cardoza, for instance, originally was slated to head a somewhat different panel. That changed when a politically vulnerable Iowa Democrat with more seniority, Rep. Leonard Boswell, opted to stay and chair a subcommittee. Peterson started over and restructured his panels so that Cardoza could still take charge of fruits and vegetables.
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complete article here

[davidwparker]

1. thanks for the post.

[trashcanistanista]

2. This is not only

good for California, but great for organic farmers and growers everywhere. It's about time.