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Specialty Crops Competetiveness Act of 2004

By: Ed Case
By: Ed Case
Date: Oct. 6, 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Agriculture and Food


SPECIALTY CROPS COMPETITIVENESS ACT OF 2004 -- (House of Representatives - October 06, 2004)

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Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 3242, the Specialty Crops Competitiveness Act of 2004. I am a proud co-sponsor of this bipartisan bill, and I congratulate its author, Congressman OSE, and his staff for this significant accomplishment.

I represent a rural agricultural district spread over the 7 inhabited islands of Hawai'i, where all of our crops are specialty crops. Except for sugarcane, the great majority of Hawai'i's crops are not grown in any other State, nor are they the traditional Farm Bill "program crops." Therefore, programs to assist Hawai'i's specialty crop producers of crops like pineapple, tropical flowers, coffee, algae, cacao, and vanilla are very limited. And even though we have crop insurance programs for only two crops-macadamia nuts and nursery crops (fewer than any other State)--we are not designated as one of the States underserved by crop insurance programs.

For these and other reasons, my State receives less Federal support for agriculture as a percentage of the value of its agriculture than any other State. At the same time, we face unique challenges due to our distance from markets, quarantine requirements, and a transition from plantation to small-scale diversified agriculture. This transition has been extremely painful for many who traditionally were employed in good agricultural jobs in sugar or pineapple as well as for our rural island economies. I requested assignment to the House Agriculture Committee during my first full term in Congress to do what I can to enhance the future of agriculture in my State and to see that my State receives its fair share of assistance.

For this reason, I come to the floor today to extend a sincere mahalo to Chairman GOODLATTE and Ranking Member STENHOLM and their staffs for their assistance in ensuring that Hawai'i's specialty crops, from coffee to ginger root to kava, will be in fact be covered by this worthy bill.

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