Schiff Questions Trump Nominee on Fair Disaster Relief for California Farmers

Ensuring Fair Access to USDA Financial Assistance

• 💡 Senator Schiff questioned Richard Fordyce, Trump's nominee for Under Secretary of Agriculture, about ensuring fair distribution of USDA financial assistance.
• 🎯 Fordyce acknowledged the agriculture diversity of California and committed to working with Schiff to ensure future programs are more accessible to specialty crop farmers.
• 🤝 Fordyce noted that in the past, agencies hadn't worked with certain commodities, and they found partnering with grower organizations improved outreach and program effectiveness.

Concerns Over Disaster Relief Funding

• ⚠️ Schiff expressed concern that current USDA rules for block grants make it "pretty much impossible" for California to receive aid.
• 🌊 He highlighted that disaster relief focused solely on hurricanes is inequitable, as California faces damage from atmospheric rivers, flooding, and fires.
• ⚖️ Schiff urged Fordyce to commit to ensuring decisions are made in a nonpartisan and non-geographic way accessible to all farmers.
• ✅ Fordyce committed to working with Schiff on these issues, though he could not speak to the specifics of current disaster program progress.

Challenges in Specialty Crop Insurance

• 📊 Schiff raised concerns that only 9% of farms growing specialty crops in California are insured, despite growing over a third of the nation's vegetables and three-quarters of fruits and nuts.
• 🛠️ He questioned Fordyce about the challenges specialty crop producers face in accessing crop insurance and what he could do to address them.
• 🚀 Fordyce acknowledged that if a safety net risk management product isn't available for a specific crop, the Risk Management Agency (RMA) has a process to evaluate opportunities for new products.
• 📈 Schiff suggested that modifications might be needed to accommodate specialty crops and long-term investments, as historic practices for grant applications may favor commodity crop growers.