Top Takeaways from IFPA's Produce Week in Washington

September 26, 2023

Washington, D.C. – Hundreds of International Fresh Produce Association members descended on the nation’s capital for The Washington Conference. The event, an annual fly-in for the produce and floral industry to come to Washington to hear from industry leaders and policy experts, and influence policymakers.

Armed and informed with these insights, attendees take to Capitol Hill to bring the produce industry needs and -more importantly- our stories to the elected leaders that are making the critical decisions shaping the way we work for years to come.

Top takeaways from the advocacy priorities include:

Farm Bill: Produce should be half the plate, but the Farm Bill spends less than 8% on programs aimed specifically at specialty crops. Congress must provide a better balance of resources for produce and specialty crops in the upcoming Farm Bill.

Labor: The fresh produce industry cannot survive in America unless Congress passes meaningful immigration reform that ensures us access to an affordable, predictable and reliable workforce.

Food Safety: FDA must follow through on their cultural transformation to modernize the agency, to be more collaborative, transparent, and effective. Congress must hold FDA accountable.

Nutrition: To expand healthy nutrition and grow produce consumption, we must utilize the fresh produce supply chain to end hunger and reduce diet related disease.

Nutrition was an especially hot topic during Washington Conference Week with the looming showdown over the severe cuts to the WIC benefits set to take place at the end of the month. IFPA’s Cathy Burns shared the importance of this benefit for the nutrition insecure, but also highlighted the potential $1 Billion dollar investment in fruit and vegetable sales at retail that is at risk with these proposed cuts.

The cuts seek to take the benefit, which is designed to provide supplemental nutrition to mothers and children up to 5 years old, would cut the monthly benefit for women by 70% and for children by 56%. This cut would allocate just $11 per month to purchase fruits and vegetables for children. The cuts are severe, and members traveled to the Hill with almost 200 baskets of $11 worth of produce to show our legislators just how little that is.

Chairwoman Stabenow, U.S. Senator and Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry took the stage on Thursday with one of the baskets in hand and expressed the power of the visual.

In addition to prestigious speakers like Senator Stabenow and Chairman G.T. Thompson, IFPA also welcomed Representatives Rick Crawford (R-AR-1), Don Davis (D-NC-1), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA- 19) and Jodey Arrington (R-TX-19), Ambassador Doug McKalip, USDA Under Secretaries Jenny Moffitt and Alexis Taylor, and a number of industry experts and leaders.

For more information about IFPA’s advocacy priorities, visit the website.

Top Takeaways from IFPA's Produce Week in Washington

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