Highlights of Senator Boxer's Record on Agriculture

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California is the nation’s largest agricultural state, with more than 350 different crops generating $32 billion in economic activity each year.  Given the vital importance of agriculture to the state’s economy, Senator Barbara Boxer has been a long-time champion of California’s agricultural industry — fighting to open international markets for California products, making sure the products are protected from diseases and pests, and ensuring that federal farm policy treats California farmers fairly.

• Valuing the Importance of Specialty Crops: With Senator Boxer’s leadership, the 2008 Farm Bill recognizes the importance of specialty crops to America’s economy – crops that have traditionally been ignored in the national farm bill.  She led the push for mandatory funding for a variety of specialty crop programs, including block grants, organic farming assistance, market programs, trade assistance, foreign market access programs, the community foods program, and crop research.

• Supporting Conservation Programs: Senator Boxer led the effort in the Senate to increase funding for agricultural conservation programs – and successfully fought an effort to gut the program entirely.  Without adequate funding, many farmers in California are unable to manage their land for conservation as well as crop production.

• Improving Air Quality: In many rural areas of California and around the country, smog and soot are reducing crop productivity.  Senator Boxer wrote a bill to expand the Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) for air quality mitigation efforts in agricultural communities with poor air quality.

• Enhancing Pest Detection and Surveillance: Senator Boxer wrote the law to provide funding for the USDA to work with states to enhance pest and disease detection and surveillance programs.  The Boxer law also increases inspections at domestic points of entry, implements pest trapping systems, and creates national pest eradication and prevention programs.

• Protecting Pollinator Population: Crops that depend on a healthy honeybee and native pollinator population are valued at an estimated $18 billion.  Yet, there has been a 25 percent decline in the nation’s honeybee population.  The 2008 Farm Bill included legislation authored by Senator Boxer, the Pollinator Protection Act, to help research, protect, and maintain America’s bee and native pollinator population and to ensure the viability of crops that rely on them.

• Promoting California Products: In the 2002 Farm Bill, Boxer worked to double funding for the Market Access Program, which helps market U.S. agricultural products overseas.  Throughout the 1990s, she vigorously fought repeated attempts to completely eliminate the program.

• Expanding Crop Purchases for Healthy Nutrition: Senator Boxer has been a champion of the purchase of California agricultural crops for federal nutrition programs.  As part of the 2008 Farm Bill, she took an active role in expanding the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Snack Program to all 50 states.  This expansion will provide as many as three million low-income elementary school children with a fresh fruit or vegetable snack every day.  In 2001, Senator Boxer secured over $56 million in federal funding for the purchase of walnuts, almonds, raisins, dates, figs, and dried plus for school lunch programs.  In 2003, she urged the USDA and the U.S. Aid for International Development to buy California raisins to help fight world hunger.  She has successfully urged USDA to purchase more than $5.7 million in canned peaches.

• Fighting Pierce’s Disease: Senator Boxer has fought each year to ensure that federal funds are available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to help California grape growers fight the spread of Pierce’s Disease, which is spread by the glassy-winged sharpshooter.  In 2000, the situation facing California grape farmers was so serious that Senator Boxer successfully convinced the USDA to issue an emergency declaration and immediately provide $22 million in funding.

• Ensuring Quality Avocados: The 2008 Farm Bill included language authored by Senator Boxer to require the USDA to set minimum quality standards for imported Hass Avocados. Past USDA import standards have not included a minimum maturity requirement. Previously, Senator Boxer persuaded the USDA to certify the risk of infestation before approving avocado importation.  She also coauthored a law to fund research on and marketing activities for Hass Avocados.

• Protecting Citrus Crops: Senator Boxer was a strong opponent of a USDA rule to allow citrus to be imported from regions of Argentina that suffered from severe disease and pest problems.  In 2000, the Senate unanimously approved her proposal to block the USDA from permitting Argentine citrus into the United States until the issue was fully studied.  In 2001, she supported efforts by the U.S. Citrus Science Council and a U.S. District Court to rewrite the rule.

• Strengthening the Dairy Industry: A strong voice for dairy farmers for decades, Senator Boxer led the successful fight in 1999 to overturn anti-dairy laws that had limited the pricing flexibility of California milk producers.  In 2003 and 2004, she worked closely with the California dairy industry to protect them from out-of-state producers who were trying to circumvent state and federal dairy marketing orders.

• Conserving California’s Watersheds: The Sacramento River watershed has been identified as one of the nation’s watersheds most in need of water quality and quantity enhancement.  Senator Boxer worked to ensure that the watershed was designated as a priority for funding under the Agricultural Watershed Enhancement Program.

• Making Crop Insurance Affordable: In 1998, Senator Boxer led the fight to reverse crop insurance policies that would have made crop insurance unaffordable for many of California’s specialty crop farmers.

• Providing Emergency Disaster Assistance: In 2007, Senator Boxer secured $48 million in emergency funding to help citrus and dairy farms affected by severe, adverse weather conditions.  The money was for citrus farm cleanup and restoration, for migrant and seasonal farm workers affected by the citrus freeze, and for losses incurred by dairy producers.

• Supporting Fresh Poultry: Senator Boxer worked to force the USDA to make the labeling criteria for fresh and frozen poultry reflect reality.  Prior to her intervention, poultry frozen as hard as a bowling ball was labeled “fresh” and allowed to compete with California’s truly fresh poultry.

• Defending California’s Sugar Beets: Senator Boxer has worked to protect California sugar beet growers from unfair foreign dumping.  She also successfully urged the USDA to revise its policies that had discouraged the purchase of sugar beets.

• Stopping Unfair Almond Tariffs: Senator Boxer helped California almond farmers fight a proposed tariff on almonds exported to India.

• Advocating for Tomato Farmers: Working with the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office, Senator Boxer helped stop the dumping of Mexican tomatoes in the United States in unfair competition with American-grown tomatoes.

• Expanding Fair Trade of Peaches, Plums, and Nectarines: Senator Boxer fought against Mexican government trade restrictions on California peaches, plums, and nectarines.

• Promoting the Use of Agricultural Waste for Ethanol: In 2003, the Senate passed Senator Boxer’s bipartisan amendment to promote the production of ethanol from agricultural waste, such as the waste of rice, sugar cane, and apples – providing a new market for and an additional economic benefit to California farmers.