The fruit and vegetable industry is historically a market-driven sector with little to no support, or interference from government.

We like it that way and believe responding to supply-and-demand market signals is a better way to build a truly sustainable business rather than relying on subsidies or government controls.

Yet, our industry is facing challenges just as great as any sector of agriculture.

With fruits and vegetables and other specialty crops accounting for almost 50 percent of farm crop value, we’re bringing a new vision to U.S. agricultural policy in this year’s Farm Bill debate.

We believe it is time for the Farm Bill to invest in our sector of market-driven agriculture – not with subsidies or direct payments to farmers, but in helping our industry be more competitive so that we can better deliver fruits and vegetables to meet Americans’ needs for improved health.

Two key policy priorities in the Farm Bill demonstrate the unique way our sector is approaching farm policy.

First, Congress appears poised to implement a new grant program to help states invest in the competitiveness of our industry.

Our industry is tremendously diverse and states are much closer to knowing how to help their local growers. Consider that in our industry, a $100,000 investment in innovative packaging technology or quality control systems may be more important to success than $10 million in subsidies to growers.

With a modest but targeted stream of investment promised in this new Farm Bill, we can begin a long-term effort to tackle challenges facing our industry such as developing mechanization and labor-saving methods on farms and in packing, adoption of new handling technologies and transportation from farm to market, and implementation of new quality control procedures to deliver better-tasting, fresher fruits and vegetables to the public.

Another priority is to begin to push agricultural policy to better align with public health policy.

We all know the government public health goals for increased consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables. To meet the 2005 Dietary Guidelines, the average American would need to literally double their consumption of fruits and vegetables.

Think about what that would mean for our farmers, and you can see the win-win opportunity.

Our nation, and increasingly the world, is facing a childhood obesity and health crisis leading to a future of chronic disease, diabetes and cancer for our kids. Shouldn’t farm policy play our proper role in this fight?

A pilot program in the 2002 Farm Bill, the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable School Snack Program, delivers a fruit or vegetable snack to elementary school classrooms each day.

The program has been a huge success everywhere it has been introduced. Kids love the produce and try items they’ve never tasted. Teachers and principals are thrilled with the learning opportunity and changes they see in the students. And many kids are even asking their parents to buy new fruits and vegetables for home.

The Senate has proposed to expand this program to serve 4.5 million low-income elementary school kids in 5,000 schools across all 50 states.

While that’s just a start on what we need to do as a nation for public health, it’s a major commitment from agriculture to do our part.

We strongly urge the conferees and the administration to support the Senate’s funding level as one of the most important steps to make sure this Farm Bill helps not only farmers, but all Americans.

Schoolchildren learning to love fresh fruits and vegetables will have long-term health benefits for us all.

We can no longer afford an agricultural policy disconnected from public health policy.

With fruits and vegetables representing half the plate of all foods Americans should consume every day for better health, it is time for better parity in the investments we make in agriculture.

Every dollar spent to increase the competitiveness of U.S. fruit and vegetable producers serves all Americans who desperately need our products for their health.

And those investments will come back many times over in better health for our children, and reduced long-term health care costs for the next generation.

When we talk about responding to market signals, those are the new kinds of market signals that the Congress and administrations to come will need to think about in the future.

Tom Stenzel is president and CEO of the United Fresh Produce Association, the industry’s leading trade association representing the fresh produce industry. This column is based on his presentation at this year’s USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum.

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