In this, my second “Reflections” column, I’d like to focus on the role of ASHS in addressing national agricultural issues such as the Farm Bill, which has lately been in newspaper headlines, as well as on the minds of many members. I’m going to provide a little background on what we have done in the past on national issues, how activities have increased, where we are now, and what members can do to support these initiatives.

As Past-President Randy Woodson pointed out in his June 2007 “Reflections” column, with the current reauthorization of the Farm Bill, ASHS could not have chosen a better time to become more involved with national issues.

What is our involvement?

In his legislative update (also in the June 2007 ASHS Newsletter) consultant Jonathan Moore summarized ASHS activities and positions. To name just a few positions, we support funding increases for: horticultural research; nutrition program fruit & vegetable purchases; technical assistance for organic farming; and domestic and international marketing of horticultural products. We also support establishment of a National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) to function as an NSF and NIH-like research funding entity within USDA.

So how did we get to where we are now on national issues?

ASHS has always been involved to some extent, mainly through partnerships with other societies. We have (pardon the acronyms!) representatives to AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science), CoFARM (Coalition on Funding Agricultural Research Missions, and CAST (Council for Agricultural Science and Technology), to name a few. All of these groups may provide information on science and agricultural issues to legislators, regulators, policymakers, the media, and the public and may take positions on specific issues, but, like ASHS, they are not “lobbyists.”

Confused with all the players at the table?

Something that I have come to realize is that each group has its own agenda, which overlaps to a greater or lesser extent with ours. For example, NASULGC (the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges) is very active at the national level and has hired Cornerstone, which is a lobbying group, to work on both Farm Bill and yearly agriculture appropriations. Many ASHS members are also active in these and similar organizations, including Past-President Randy Woodson, and Eric Young, Executive Director of the Southern Association of Agricultural Experiment Station Directors. Some of you may have heard from Drs. Woodson and Young at the Scottsdale Specialty Crops Initiative Workshop. On some issues (additional NRI funds!), most of these groups would have the same position as ASHS. On others, however, (specialty crop funding, the ARS and CSREES merger), their position could be different. So as an organization, we need to be on our own sometimes to best represent our members’ interests. At the same time, for greater impact, we also need to partner when possible with other groups.

In summary, efforts at the national level have been going on for years, mostly through partnerships and individual efforts of members or staff, especially Executive Director Mike Neff, but until recently there has not been an official committee, working group, or staff person given the responsibility of monitoring developments “on the hill” and presenting the perspective of our members to legislators or Federal agencies.

What has changed is that none of our previous organizational partners are necessarily in a position to advocate funding for specialty crops, a vital interest of our members. In fact, it was an industry group, the Specialty Crop Farm Bill Alliance, which worked to get the Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act of 2004 through Congress. This Act establishes the definition of specialty crops as fruits and
vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and nursery crops (including floriculture). While we think of these as horticultural crops, rather than specialty crops, no one wanted to fund “minor crops,” which was what these crops were called before! With this Specialty Crops Act in place and national attention on the dollar and nutritional value of horticultural/specialty crops, it became increasingly clear that it was time for ASHS to take a more active role.

At a CSREES-sponsored Stakeholder workshop before the 2005 Las Vegas Conference, working group representatives not only came up with funding priorities for CSREES, but also wanted ASHS to take a more proactive role in advocating for increased federal funding and in facilitating member success in obtaining grants. However, it was not until 2006, that things really got underway with the formation of the ASHS Public Affairs Task Force, initially chaired by then Research VP John Clark. This group recommended hiring Jonathan Moore as ASHS National Issues Policy Consultant to improve ASHS visibility on the Hill and to stay on top of key policy issues. The Task Force, is now chaired by Thomas Björkman, the initial proponent of increased national activism for the society, and has been re-named the National Issues Task Force. The Task Force, aided by Julia Kornegay, organized a highly successful Workshop in Scottsdale on the Specialty Crops Initiative, featuring Gale Buchanan, current Undersecretary of Agriculture. The fact that Dr. Buchanan was willing to attend is a tribute not only to the organizers of the workshop, but also to the increasing visibility of specialty crops and sends out a clear message about the importance of our industry, whatever it is called!

That brings us up to the present.

As an individual member, how can you help?

Everyone contributes through maintaining his or her membership and by supporting ASHS activities, including recruitment of new members. Beyond this, look for legislative updates in the Newsletter and more workshops on related topics at Orlando in 2008. The National Issues Task Force is also exploring other ways for members to support these initiatives. We’ll be in touch!

Mary Peet
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Originally published in ASHS Newsletter August 2007.